


Zoe Part II

by Mysteryred



Series: Zoe [2]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Drama, F/M, Family, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-20
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-05-02 14:04:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5250920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysteryred/pseuds/Mysteryred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoë has unfinished business, but can she rally her new family behind her to finish it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: APOLOGIES dear readers, this story is of draft quality and hasn't been revised. Alas for now it will serve its purpose and drive us from point a to point c. Hopefully someday I can bring it up to par.
> 
> I feel I should quell any concerns you may have about this opening being Leo hurting Zoë. It's NOT and none of the turtles ever hurt her. This opening chapter contains violence, sex and references to Zoë's animal genes and how they affect her reproductive cycle. If you can't handle those topics you can try to skip ahead to Chapter 2 but everything lays the ground for the rest of the story. Zoë has a dark past, sorry I knew it when I created her but the story told itself to me so I let be what it wanted.

**Zoe**

_He's going to kill me. Test days are always a last woman standing bloodbath. Sweat rolls off my body like a downpour of rain. The tip of his razor sharp blade is under my chin and I can feel my flesh break apart beneath the firm pressure he applies. My chest is heaving, gasping, reaching for air, and the never ending knot of pain wrapped around my heart squeezes tighter still. I am pinned to the floor beneath the tip of his blade and he is unforgiving of my error._

_"You failed. Again. Get up and do it again!" He flicks the blade with precision accuracy, adorning my throat with yet another fine line. If I so much as breathe too deeply under his discipline it could well be over. "AGAIN!" He smacks my shoulder with the side of his blade tilting it ever so slightly, providing my bicep with a wound to match my throat. I roll away from the katana as he flicks his wrist, ready to discipline me again._

_I do not speak. For one, I can't. My body couldn't provide a stammer with the level of adrenaline coursing throughout me, let alone supply me with a voice. It won't do me any good anyway. Assuming a position similar to a wall crawling super hero, I whirl around and swipe at his leg. Of course I miss, but I knew I would. As my foot swings back around I launch myself into a series of back-handsprings flipping over a seemingly endless string of bodies, trying to get distance from my master and get my hands on a weapon._

_The weapons in this dojo aren't readily available. They never are. Not to me, my sister, or my friends. They are a test in themselves. Find them. Obtain them. Improvise. I land next to the body of a fallen comrade, snatch her tessen and assume my fighting stance._

_The two blondes and I had been the only ones left. But now Zaire is dead, I'm sure of it. The gaping slash in her throat, the blood that had spurt from her jugular had long stopped. Her eyes were fixed open, locked in an infinite mask of fear, her mouth agape, her pupils fixed and dilated. I look away from my sisters lifeless eyes and know that a part of me has died… my twin. I hear myself screaming …_

" _Zoe!_ Shit. Zoe, listen to me!"

_Raphael?_

I hear something breaking.

"Zoe, stop! _Zoe!_ "

"Give me the damn thing before you kill yourself!"

_Raph again… It feels like something's being pried from my hand._

"Let the sai go Zoe! Drop it!"

His thick fingers find a pressure point on my hand causing it to open.

_What is that other sound? It sounds like crying?_

_Anton. Antonello. My…. Baby._

I can't _see_ but I can _hear_ … I can _feel_ an iron grip, holding me, restraining me. It's dark in here. I'm trapped. _But I didn't have a baby here…. I didn't have Raphael here…._

"Zoe damn it! Stop Zo, you're safe! I've got you!"

I can feel the softness of bed-sheets twisted around my body, further adding to the hold he has on me. I'm flailing. I feel my body straining, resisting, my legs are kicking, thrashing. My efforts are futile. His plastron is hard, unforgiving and yet he doesn't hurt me. Breathe. Just breathe. If only I could breathe.

"ZOE!" Raph is yelling, "Mike, get Anton out of here!"

"Raph what is going on? _Whose_ blood is that?"

_That was Leo's voice. He sounds worried. Blood? What blood?_

"Just… get Donnie!"

"What happened? What's happening?"

"Another nightmare! Leo, just get Donnie… GO! Damn it Zoe, stop fightin' me!"

_Why would I be fighting you?_

"Take my hand Zoe. Take it. I'm right here!"

There's a current reaching up through my fingertips, spreading across my palm and making its way up my arm, enveloping my body, and warming me like alcohol entering the bloodstream. It wraps its way around my heart, loosening the knot that is bound there. It is short-tempered, often bitter and always guarded, yet loyal, passionate, and forever loving… Loving…

"Raph?" The darkness surrounding me is fading, giving way to the harsh light of the bedroom. I turn my head away from it, closing my eyes. I feel the rock hard keratin beneath my cheek. My heart is jumping in my chest, and I realize now I'm sweating and gasping for air.

"Finally. I've got you Z, I've got you." He holds me close and kisses the top of my head.

" _Again_? Whose blood is that?" I recognize Donatello's voice.

"It's hers," Raph groans. He moves to pull me away from him to look at me but I feel my chest shudder and an ocean of tears break free.

"She's dead. She's dead. She's-" _Her eyes… her throat…the blood._

"Shhhh, you're okay. I've got you." He pulls me close again.

"Raph, what happened? Where's the blood coming from?" Donnie sounds closer now.

I try to regulate my breathing.

"Zoe, do you need your inhaler?" Donnie asks me.

I take another breath. Slow. In. Slow. Out. Breathe.

The wave of emotions recedes leaving me exhausted. I open my eyes, "Raph, you can let me go now."

"Well I would, but you ripped your arm open with my sai and I'm holdin' it shut."

"Oh. Okay." I nod and reside myself to whatever they decide to do with me. My body is trembling.

Raph loosens his grip so I can look around. The room is trashed. A broken lamp lay by our feet on the floor, still lit by some miracle. The white of our bed-sheets is marred with blood and there are splatters of it all over the walls. There are two holes in the wall on Raph's side of the bed. The dresser is tipped over and all of its contents are spilled onto the floor. Anton's crib in the corner of the room seems to be the only thing untouched. _Somehow I never go near his bed in my rampage. It's like even in my nightmares my subconscious protects him. Not that Raph would ever let me near it anyway when I'm like this._

"Where's the baby?" I feel a surge of adrenalin ram through me. _Did I hurt him? Please say he's okay._ I try to lunge from Raph's arms but he doesn't release me.

"He's fine, Mike has him. Stop moving, you'll bleed all over the place. Not that you haven't already."

"Here, wrap it in this till you get downstairs." Leo walks in the room holding an armful of towels. _I didn't realize he'd left._ He hands them to Donatello who's standing beside us.

"Left arm," Raph says as Donatello reaches out with a towel.

"Left arm? _Again?_ Why's it always the left arm Zoe?" Don shakes his head.

I don't answer him. I never do.

"Zoe, it hasn't healed from last week. You can't keep doing this. You know if you talk about it-" Donnie looks at the wound briefly before holding it closed again, wrapping it in the white towel.

"Well that isn't happening Don, so let's just get this over with."

Raph helps untangle me from the bed-sheets wrapped around my legs. I've apparently ransacked the room yanking them along with me. I place my hand over the towel holding it in place and follow him downstairs.

"Zoe, it's been two years-" Donatello tries again as I take my seat at the kitchen table, placing my towel wrapped arm on top. These days they go to bed leaving the first aid kit on it, just waiting for me. I didn't have nightmares the entire time I was pregnant with Anton. But shortly after his first birthday they returned. They weren't this bad at first. But they are getting steadily worse.

"No Don, just- no." I shake my head and look away as he unfolds the towel. I feel the needle prick my skin and the cold numbing fluid enter. After that it's all tugging.

Raph grabs a Coke and a bottle of water from the fridge. He opens the can and sits it and the water down in front of me before taking a seat at the table. Low blood sugar always follows these nightmares, partly because of the blood I lose when I hurt myself but also because of my meds, the adrenalin and the fact that I haven't eaten since dinner. I have an overactive vaso vegal response to pain. It goes with being an empath. Yoga and meditation help me control it but it's useless after getting stitched up. It takes too long to sew and the response builds the longer it takes to treat my wounds.

It's almost a routine now. First aid kit goes on the table right before we go to bed, I flip out like a lunatic, Raph stops me, Mike takes Anton, Leo brings towels, and Don sews me up. I drink a Coke and then a bottle of water. April and Karai are probably already cleaning our room. Then Don will give me a sedative and we go back to bed. It's been going on for three months now and I'm sick of it.

"Zoe, you busted all of these stitches. You're going to get an infection. Please let us help you." Donatello never stops trying. None of them do. But I just can't bring myself to tell them….my crimes, my shame.

"Are you done sewing me up Don? Give me an antibiotic and cut me loose."

I feel the soft gauze wrap making its way up my arm, followed by athletic wrap. I grab the Coke and sip it to appease Raphael.

"Yes, I'm done. Here, this one's an antibiotic, and here's the sedative."

"Give me the antibiotic. I'm through with the sedatives." I take the pill and swallow it down with some more Coke.

"Zoe, you need rest," Don shakes his head.

"Thanks for sewing me up Donnie." I open the water bottle, chug half of it and set it back on the table. I cross the large country style kitchen stopping at the backdoor to grab my sneakers from the floor. I slip them on my feet.

"Where you goin'?" Raph finally speaks. He's usually quiet through all of this. At some point he'll ask me if I want to talk about it.

"Out," I open the back door and slam it shut behind me. I step out into a blanket of summer night humidity. The sound of crickets, tree frogs and cicadas fills my ears and I welcome the noise, hoping it will drown out my thoughts.

It's so much better here than it ever was in the city. I'm free, I'm happy, and I have found both a home and family. And thanks to them I have control when forced to fight… _So, why are the nightmares back?_ I make my way down the back steps and head for the barn. I've got to work through this and I only know one way to do it.

I hear the door open and slam shut behind me, "Zoe, it's two in the mornin' and you're covered in blood."

I open the barn door and try to slip in quick so I can close it behind me and hopefully lock him out. But right as I turn around to shut it I slam into his plastron. "Ow, shit. Personal space?"

He steadies me then let's me go. "Are you ever goin' to talk about it?"

I make my way over to the wrestling mats we've laid out in the center of the barn. It's bigger than the dojo in the lair was and it works well for our purposes since Don and the boys refit it. The ceilings are high and the cross beams prove helpful for the guys monkeying around. One corner is set up for conditioning and there's a space for me to do yoga. There's designated space for tumbling, sparring, and katas, so we don't all have to work on the same thing at the same time.

I start warming up. My left arm is clean from Donnie's stitch up. But Raph is right. The rest of me _is_ covered in blood. My red camisole top has maroon splatters all over it. My matching sleep-shorts seem to have escaped too much damage though. I can feel the taught pull of dried blood on my face, right arm and both legs. I run my hands through my hair and feel dried blood in my tresses.

"You think you're gonna work out with that arm?"

I ignore him and begin my yoga warm up. It hurts. I'm not going to lie. But so does the weight of my crimes and I need to rid myself of the shame.

"You can't keep goin' like this. It's not workin'." He's standing over me.

I lower myself through a chaturanga and feel a stitch pop. Instead of feeling my much needed stress relief I'm getting mad. _I can't even work through it._ I roll onto my back and smack the mat in frustration. _Pop._ I set my jaw and get to my feet, tears burning my eyes. He wraps his fingers around my left wrist and holds it out for me to see. Blood is already seeping through.

"You popped a stitch already. This has to stop Zo."

A low guttural rumble escapes me. We all recognize the sound now. It's my pissed off cat sound.

"Knock it off Z." The sound doesn't faze him anymore. Not that it ever really bothered him. Hell, in the bedroom it turns him on.

I jerk my wrist from his grasp and smack my hand against his plastron, " _You_ knock it off."

"I'm not the one wreckin' our room every other night!" He snaps at me.

"I know that!" I turn away from him, but before I can take a step he's spinning me back around to face him.

"This shit is destroying our home, scaring our son, and tearing you apart. I've been more patient with you than I've been with anyone or anything else in my life but I'm through. Give me somethin, say somethin, anything Zoe."

I stare at him, searching his worry filled eyes. "Or what?"

"I don't know how to get you to talk. _Talk to me._ Tell me one thing. Just one. Anything. What are the dreams about? What happened to you in that place? Who's Zaire?"

"Did Donatello tell you her name?" I feel my heartbeat quicken. _Pupils fixed and dilated, mouth agape, throat slit._

"You were screamin' it."

I look away from him and nod my head. "You're right. I need to deal with my shit."

"So, who is she?"

"I need a shower," I try to turn away from him again.

"Damn it Zoe!" His hands come down on my biceps, intending to spin me around to face him again.

I duck away and spin around, swiping a fist at his jaw. He catches it, snatches me up and lifts me into the air.

" _What_ , you wanna fight me now?" He's trying to make sense of me but I don't make sense to myself. I just can't stand the way I feel.

"I need to fight something! I want this pain, this guilt gone! I want…" I started out yelling at him, but the more I say the worse I hurt and the anger gives way to the pain and tears fall. "I want to feel _something…anything_ but this." I look at him with pleading eyes, "Just make it stop."

He pulls me to him, his mouth on mine, drawing my body close, pulling me in. Yes. _Yes._ He'll drown my senses in him. There'll be no room to think about anything else when he's claiming me as his own.

His leather and cedarwood oil scent mixes with my honeysuckle fragrance as he rubs his beak against my neck. Oh how he loves to mark his territory, again and again and I love it when he does. First he nuzzles me, then he nips my collarbone, and my ear, a rumble escapes him and I feel moist heat between my legs. I reach around the back of his head grabbing the tails of his bandanna and giving it a firm tug. Another rumble and I match him with a purr. His hands move down, grabbing my ass and lifting me up against him. I didn't realize we were moving until I feel my back press against the center pole of the barn. With one hand he holds me up, with the other tugging on my camisole. He presses his mouth against my ear. "If you wanna save your clothes you better help me gettem off or I'm gonna rippem off."

I slip the cami over my head and his mouth finds its way to my breasts. My fingers run along the scales over his arms, slipping down across his bridge and back up along the scutes of his carapace. "The bottoms," his voice resonates in my chest as he tugs on them and I feel the threads separating from the pressure.

"Raph don't, I don't… want… to walk… _oh that feels good_ … back naked," I'm trying to speak but my head is so full of him working me, licking, sucking, rubbing. He tugs them off and thrust into me in seemingly one motion. _Not much foreplay… that can only mean one thing._ I gasp as he fills me with the most exquisite pain I've ever felt. I moan and sink my fingernails into his biceps. He thrusts and I arch my back. He thrusts harder still and I squirm. He growls.

We're moving again. "Hold on ta me," His lips are against my throat and I feel like we're falling, but our landing is cushioned as he's controlled the fall. The mats beneath me are soft and his body above me is rock hard. He thrusts again and again. My legs are splayed and open for him with my feet flat into the mats, one knee rests against the side of his carapace. He thrusts again and I buck against him.

"Stop movin," he demands. I squirm and he bites down on the trapezius muscle of my right shoulder. _I thought so._ I know what he wants. When he gets like this he's lost to his primal instincts and I'm not meant to move, I'm meant to submit.

He thrusts again and again, "Raph, oh my…" He has one hand on my ass pulling me into him as he thrusts. If I'm still enough to please him, he'll release me from his bite hold. If I continue to squirm he'll bite harder. He picks up a steady rhythm of thrusts and I'm panting in sync with him. He releases his bite and runs his tongue over the wound, then kisses his way up my neck, seeking my mouth. Our eyes meet and I'm locked in the depths of his crystal green gems. The heat, _thrust_ , the passion, _thrust_ , the need, _thrust_. His mouth finds mine and he changes his rhythm to rub against my clit and I begin to _build_ , thrust, rub, tongues intertwining, _building_ , leather, thrust, rub, _wanting_ , cedarwood oil, thrust, rub, "Raphael, oh-", thrust, rub, _reaching_ , he slows to an agonizing torment, holding me right at the edge of my sanity and lulling me back and forth. "Raph, please," I beg and he responds, thrusting, rubbing, carrying me to my bliss, I look in his eyes and lose myself. He thrusts again and my body squeezes around him in heavenly aftershocks and I find myself trembling beneath him as he reaches his own orgasm and fills my depths with his seed.

He flips over onto his shell pulling me with him. I lay on top of him resting my body against his plastron. He runs his fingers over my skin then pulls my wounded left arm up so he can see it. "Well that sucks."

More stitches popped during our romp, leaving a line of blood half the length of my wound. I laugh, "It'll be fine." I sit up and straddle him, then brush my fingertips over the bite he's left on my shoulder, "Really Big Guy?"

His eyes fill with lust, "You wouldn't be still."

"Oh I got the message and everyone else is going to see I did too." I raise my eyebrows and grin at him.

"Don't care," He sits up and grabs my hips pulling me closer to him. With adept fingers he gently brushes my red waves away from my shoulder to examine his handiwork. "Mmmm maybe I care _a little_." He places feathery kisses over the wound and up the side of my neck. I moan. He chuckles, "Mmmm maybe _not_." He lifts me up and slips slowly back into me. I moan into him as he pulls me all the way down his length. His left hand commands my hip while his right traces my cheek, sliding down to my jaw, then skimming over my neckline and sweeping over my shoulder, his eyes following the path of his fingers. I watch him, my breast rising and falling with every lustful breath and gentle rock of my hips. His fingers trace my breast, his thumb brushes over my nipple. I moan and he pulls me against him rocking my hip.

I hum and sigh with his slow deliberate movements. His right hand slides further down and comes to rest on my hip. He tilts his head to the side and looks from where our bodies join and up into my eyes, rocking me again. "Raph," my eyes close and I bite my lip, he rocks me again and I arch my back and he moans.

He slips his hand behind my back and pulls me to him his mouth seeking mine. He nuzzles me again and feeling his mouth open over my shoulder, I laugh, "Don't bite me again!"

He growls and I laugh harder.

"You better quit," He breathes into my ear. _Oh. That. Voice._

"Mmmm or _what_?" I half moan half laugh as I rub my cheek against his.

A rumble escapes his chest and he lifts me by my hip and slams into me.

I gasp and moan, "Not nice. What's gotten into you tonight?" I run my fingers along his cheek and slip them around to the back of his head.

"It's what I'm getting into," He says and I feel his teeth on my shoulder again.

"Raph, seriously _don't_ bite me again!" I yelp as he opens his mouth, his teeth grazing the wound. He stops abruptly as if snapped out of a trance and looks into my eyes.

His primal glaze temporarily evaporates and I can see my tender lover return. I brush my lips over his and lure him back to me. He picks up a rhythm moving my hips. He's a controlling lover and I want him to be. His free hand rubs up my back and he sits more upright pulling me against his plastron. My toes push against the floor mat. We're driven to get as close to one another as we can, I feel him reaching for me, both within my body and outside of it. Our tongues caress and slide over one another, our eyes locked in a mutually adoring gaze. His name escapes my mouth in a whisper, my lips barely moving as we come together, a single tear escapes me.

**Raphael**

She's strewn across my plastron and I stroke her hair as I stare up at the ceiling of the barn. Tiny rays of moonlight peek through all of the spaces between the boards. Zoe's kind of like those cracks lately. They start out small but as time goes on, if they don't get repaired, the spaces get bigger. If only light would find its way to fill those spaces for her. _What am I thinking?_

I run my fingers down her arms tracing the outline of her biceps then slipping them down over the outline of her body. She trains hard and it shows. Every muscle on her tiny frame is lean, firm and defined. I stroke each scar I encounter along the way, and there are many. _Talk to me. How can I get you to talk to me?_

She's so focused on her darkness, but it doesn't scare me. And mine doesn't scare her. Only I've found peace and security in knowing that. But for her, it's like she has unfinished business. And no amount of training is going to resolve that. _So what do we do?_

"We should head back inside before Anton wakes up. We've been out here all night." She whispers, stroking the inside of my arm.

"What time is it?" I ask her, pulling her closer. I don't want her to move. These moments never last long enough.

She pulls herself off me and gets to her feet, glancing at the clock above the barn door. "Oh, shit Raph, Leo's going to be out here any minute." She laughs as she snatches her pajamas from the floor and struggles to get them on, "It's almost five."

I put my arms behind my head and cross my ankles, watching her run around. _MMMM, I want to start all over… and she smells do damn good… honeysuckle and something else… something that makes me want to bite her._

"Why are you growling?" She tugs her top over her head and stands over me.

 _I didn't realize I was._ I grin at her and watch her expression change. _Yeah, I can just look at you a certain way and you get all hot and bothered._ I love that I affect her that way.

"And now you're laughing." She shakes her head, "Get your crazy ass off the floor. We've got to get inside, get showered and get breakfast ready. By then Anton will be up." She nudges my foot with hers, "Come on!"

I roll over, get to my feet and snatch her up, a guttural rumble rising from my chest. She's laughing. That only makes it worse. Sometimes I can't keep my hands off her.

"Stop! Put me down, we've got-"

I don't let her finish, my mouth is on hers and I'm inhaling her.

"Uh, am I interrupting something?" Leo clears his throat before adding, " _Again_?"

Zoe breaks off our kiss, "Sorry Leo, we were just on our way to the house."

I put her down and grin at my brother. It's not like he and Karai haven't done the same damn thing.

As we enter the kitchen I see Don is already at the table pouring over another dictionary thick book. Mike is cooking breakfast. Karai nods good morning before heading out the backdoor for the barn. April is helping Mike. Splinter is sipping on tea and reading over a newspaper. Zoe disappears upstairs right away, probably to shower.

"Uh, Raph can I talk to you for a minute?" Don asks closing his book and looking over at me.

"About?" I shrug and make my way over to the plate of bacon Mike is frying. I shove a crispy piece in my mouth.

"Zoe." Don answers as he stands up and walks toward the foyer motioning me to follow.

I grumble and follow him. I expected him to talk to me in the entry way but he opens the front door and motions for me to go first. _What the-_

"Uh, Raph," he clears his throat and makes this weird noise when he's nervous. It's almost a faint clicking sound.

"Spit it out Don, I got shit to do this morning." I cross my arms.

"Uhhhh, okay, see the thing is, I noticed that you bite her, from time to time…. Four times a year actually."

"How the hell is that any of your business Don?" I growl and stand over him. _I'm gonna hit him._

"I just noticed that she also smells extra… well… different, four times a year. Kind of the way April and Karai do every month…. Do you know what I'm talking about?" Don steps away from me, looking like he's ready to either bolt or duck a hit. Then he continues, "Zoe's ovulating. Unlike April and Karai who do every month, with Zoe's animal genes she goes into a full heat, like an animal, only four times a year. During that time is when she's most fertile. I just thought you should know unless you and she want more Anton's. Judging by the bites I'm guessing she's provoking your primal instincts and you don't even realize it. You two are like a baby bomb waiting to go off…. I just thought you should know."

 _WHAT?_ "WHAT?!" _WHAT?!_ _Just great. That's just great._

He opens his mouth to say it again.

"Stop talkin. Just. Stop. I got it." I push past him to go back in the house but look back quickly, "Uh, how do I know when it's uh- over?"

"She's stop smelling so delicious that you want to sink your teeth into her."


	2. Chapter 2

**Zoe**

I grab my Ipod and choose my wake up playlist, not that I will hear it from the shower, but it's motivating. I slip in and let the water run over me, trying to keep my left arm as dry as I can. We'll change the bandages this morning if I get it wet. Don will probably fix the stitches I popped or glue it shut. Either way I'm going to get an ear full.

I squirt shampoo in my hand and lather up my hair. They're going to want to know what I plan to do about my nightmares. It can't go on like this. Raph said himself, he's through. It has to stop. What can I do about them? I need to get away and clear my head. Okay let's think.

 _Who_ is in my nightmares? Zaire and Exodus. _Why?_ Because one is dead and I… let her die and the other I left there. I know the _where_. I know _what_ they were going to do to us. I just don't understand _why_ I was doing better and now all of the sudden they're back in my head.

I stare at the drain, watching the blood tinted water swirl before it disappears…

_"Zoe. Zoe, can you hear me?" Exodus reaches out her fair skinned hand, stroking my arm._

_"Shhh," I motion for her to get down behind me. I crouch behind an empty salad bar, "Keep in the blind spots I told you about. If they pick you up on camera it's over for us."_

_"It's dark in here Zoe. I can't see where we're going like you." The younger girl wraps her hand around my arm. She's shivering._

_"Stay close to me X. I've got to get my bags. I hid them behind the dumpster when I was on trash duty last week. Once we get outside we have to get them, then we're out of here."_

_The blonde agrees, "Okay."_

_I nod and motion for her to follow me. The night camera is revolving and we're in the only blind spot in kitchen. As it spins around toward the dining area I pull Exodus along with me toward the massive air vent that I covered with a bread shelf. I scoot the shelf, placing it so that the view of the camera will only show the shelf, not what's going on behind it. I reach under the it and pull the tape away from the flathead screwdriver I had hidden and begin removing screws from the vent._

_We crawl inside on our hands and knees. My already racing heart jerks and shudders. I replace the vent, resting it in the grooves and it stays. Exodus let's me crawl past her and follows closely. We move stealthily down the winding aluminum space. The cobwebs tangle themselves in my hair, the dust bunnies attaching themselves to my white linen pajamas. Even my bare feet are covered in dust. My eyes start to water and my nose tingles. I will not sneeze. Not now. I move quicker along my memorized route. The walls are closing in on me, my lungs are shrinking and what air I have is fleeting. Breathe, Zoe. Just breathe. Breathe._

_We reach the end and I shove the vent out with my feet. I'd removed the screws the same time I hid the duffel bags. Before the vent cover can hit the ground I grab it and lower it down, letting it fall the last two feet of the five foot drop. "Come on X."_

_She nods and I jump out. Then she follows, landing silently behind me. I grab the grate and motion to her. I stand on her shoulders and place the vent back in its grooves. She may be younger but she's taller and a bit stronger, some kind of horse genes or something. The dumpster with my bags is right next to the vent. I flip off Exodus's shoulders and run to collect them._

_A strobe light rotates over the yard. It's guarded by a patrol officer and a watch dog at every corner. I've chosen the most discreet exit route… the sewer._

"Zoe, are you okay in there?" I hear April's voice.

I'm sitting under the stream of the shower and the water has long run cold. It washes over me and I'm shivering beneath it.

"Raph, no! Wait, here I've got a key. I'll get you in, please don't break the door. Zoe, please answer me." I hear April picking the lock, the knob turns, "I'll go take care of Anton." She says softly.

"Thanks April," Raph says closing the bathroom door behind him. "Zoe?" He pulls the curtain back and looks at me.

I don't know how he knows I'm crying with all the water that's rushing over me. It must be the expression on my face or my eyes must be red, they feel swollen. I sit on the shower floor with my arms wrapped around me. He looks down at my wounded arm, it's soaked through. He shuts off the water and grabs a towel, "Come on."

I can't move for the shivering my body is doing. My lip is trembling, my teeth chattering. The muscles in my back are cramping. "I lllefttt hhhherrr." I stammer.

He pulls me from the shower, wrapping me in the towel. "Who?"

"Exodus." I answer him.

"Do you want to tell me about her?" He rubs my back with the towel, warming the muscles that were locking up.

"No," I take the towel from him wrapping it around me and look him in the eyes, "I want to go back for her."

**Raphael**

"No way. That is not happening." _Is she nuts? I know she knows what they'll do to her. She's a mother. She can't be going out on missions. This is crazy._ "Not happenin'!"

"Relax. It's not like I'm going today."

_She's already planning._

She wraps a towel around her hair and walks out of the bathroom, down the hall and back to our bedroom.

"You're not going ever!" I roar. I follow her, slamming the bedroom door shut behind me.

She ignores me as she dresses. She's giving off that amazing honeysuckle hormone mix of a scent and it's distracting. I step further away from her so I can keep yelling at her. _She's totally made up her mind. She's planning it already._ I can see it on her face as she runs the brush through her hair.

"Are you listening to me?" I try to hold my breath so I don't lose my focus. I grab the brush from her hand and look in her eyes. _Shit. She's practically gone already._ "No, Zoe. What about Anton? Who's going to take care of him? What will he do without a mother if somethin' happens to you?"

She snatches the hairbrush back from my hand and resumes running it through her hair. She lays it on the dresser and turns to leave but I'm blocking her way.

"You don't actually mean to leave here." My heart is racing. _She'll get herself killed. I'll be raising our son without her. I don't want to live in a world without her, let alone look at part of her every day for the rest of my life, knowing she's no longer in it._

"Say somethin' Zoe!" I yell, maybe louder than I intended, maybe not loud enough.

"I'm going back for her." She nods, "But not right this second. So if you would please excuse me, I need to get this arm re-wrapped, get bitched at for letting it get wet and I'm sure popping stitches, I need to eat breakfast, tend to our son and start planning." She climbs over the bed to go around me but I reach out an arm and block her.

"Like hell," I growl.

"Get out of my way Raphael." She hisses.

She's never looked at me like that before. I don't know what it means. Her eyes are like steel, cold, hard, determined. I've seen that, that doesn't scare me. What scares me is the distance. Her mind is miles away, plotting a way to rescue a girl she hasn't seen in two years, a girl who may not even be alive. _Fuck._ I close my eyes as she moves around me and out the door. _Fuck._

**Zoe**

I hear everything that was on the dresser hitting the floor or bouncing off the walls and shattering as I make my way down the hall. I stop and resist the urge to go back and calm him down. Because I can. I don't know another soul in this world that can do that. But I can. But I'm not going to. Because I can't tell him what he wants to hear. It would be a lie.

I swallow the lump in my throat and make my way downstairs to the kitchen. Mike is stacking blocks with Anton on the floor in the play area. Only Anton is tugging on the orange tails of Mike's mask and Mike's the one more involved in the blocks. Mike smiles at me and I rub the top of his head and bend over to kiss Anton.

"Did you eat breakfast?" I ask my turtle tot.

"ZOE! I'm not done talkin' to you!" Raph stomps downstairs, yelling at the top of his lungs. He stops abruptly when he realizes Anton is watching him.

"Daddy!" He yells abandoning Mike and running over to Raph who scoops him up into a hug.

"Can you yell at me after breakfast?" I ask smiling at him.

He stares at me. "Get your arm looked at. _Now._ "

He's searching for control. I've rocked him. I understand. But I made a mistake and I have to make it right. If they don't get behind me in this, I will go alone and he knows it.

"Raph this is going to take months to get ready for. Calm down. It will be okay." I try to soothe him but it's futile. Bottom line, if the end plan involves me leaving this house and putting our family at risk, he's going to have a fit.

He growls at me through clenched teeth, "Arm, _now_."

I roll my eyes and walk past Mike who's now deeply focused on a child's peg puzzle and doesn't look up or say a word.

April and Don are sitting at the kitchen table sipping on cups of coffee and looking over one of Donnie's gigantic books together. I've learned over the past two years that this usually means they've overheard something and want to appear busy and uninterested.

I pad across the kitchen and grab two plates. I pile Raph's high with bacon and eggs. I put some eggs on mine along with buttered toast, an apple and a couple squares of cheddar cheese. He's standing behind me holding Anton.

"Go ahead and sit down. We can share our plates with him, if he seems interested." I nod and he sits Anton in his booster seat next to his own chair at the table. I put his plate in front of him, then mine at my spot and go back for drinks and forks.

I slip into my chair and we eat in silence. Mike walks through the kitchen and out the backdoor, "Going to warm up." He says to anyone who wants to know.

Anton grabs handfuls of eggs off Raph's plate and shoves some in his mouth then squishes the rest between his fingers.

Raph and I are taking bites and glaring at each other. There's a gurgle of a child's laughter and a yip of joy as handfuls of eggs fly through the air and land on Raphael's face.

I bite my lip and try not to laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Zoe**

Raph and Anton have joined most of our family in the barn. Anton likes to mimic his father and uncles and it wears him out, then he'll nap well. I'm in the house with Donnie who's trying to do damage control on my arm. April is sitting next to him sipping her coffee.

"Why'd you get this wet Zoe? How'd you pop stitches already?" He shakes his head as he removes the last of the wet wrap and looks over the jagged wound.

I watch his gentle eyes flicker with irritation as he peers through his glasses at the wound and then over at me.

"I need your help Donnie."

He's tried forever, like Raph, to get me to talk. Truthfully all of them provide me with an opportunity to talk and often. Mike will just put an arm around me and sit quietly waiting for me to say anything I need to. Leo will look me dead in the eye and tell me _'if you ever want to talk, I'm here to listen'_. Raph will flat out ask me to talk to him. When I've done something crazy, like hurting myself, he'll demand it. Donnie asks me every time I find myself in his care.

"Sure Zoe, what is it?" He seems pleased that I'm in need of his help. It's a stark contrast to me blowing him off.

"I need you to find out if someone is still alive for me."

His fingers stop moving over my wound. "Exodus?"

I nod.

"Who's Exodus?" April asks, handing Donnie a roll of gauze.

"Someone I owe my freedom to." I answer April, but I'm looking Donatello in the eye.

He swallows, "What are you planning to do Zoe?"

"Nothing if she's not alive. I know you'd never lie to me Donnie. Can you hack in and see if she's there?"

"Is this what you and Raph are fighting about?" He takes the gauze from April and starts wrapping my arm.

"I need to know if she's alive. That's all, for right now."

"You want to go back for her." He finishes the second layer with red athletic wrap.

"If she's there I will go back for her." I stand up, "I know you don't need any more information than what I gave you two years ago. She's five foot seven with fair blonde hair and big doe like blue eyes. You'll know her when you see her. She'll remind you of someone you know. Please Donatello, help me." He looks away and then back at me and nods his head ever so slightly.

"I'm not going to ask anyone to keep any of this from Raph. I've already told him I want to go for her. But if he doesn't ask…" I look at April and Donatello and they nod. "Thanks."

**Donatello**

It's been two weeks. I don't spend all of my time trying to hack into Shelton Research Campus. It isn't that hard. I could've had it done by the end of the day, when she asked. Part of me has spent a lot of the time debating whether or not to do it. Then I debate on telling her that I don't see the girl there. Of course I have to actually look, so when she asks me a million questions I will have the answers. If I just tell her the girl isn't there she'll pry to be sure I tried.

She and Raph have been at each other in the strangest ways. Raph is reverting back to his old Pre-Zoe ways, snapping at everyone and constantly looking for a fight. Usually Zoe puts herself in the way of it. They end up taking it to the barn, where I'm pretty sure I know what's going on there… She's going to need stitches in her shoulder at this rate.

I sigh and head to the kitchen to put another pot of coffee on.

"Donnie, I think these stitches are ready to come out." Zoe pulls two coffee cups down from the cabinet.

It's late… or early depending on how you look at it. Four thirty in the morning. I look around the kitchen but I don't see Raph.

"Another nightmare?" I ask accepting a white chipped coffee cup from her.

"Yeah," She pours some milk over her coffee and motions to the kitchen table, "Wanna talk?"

 _This is different._ _Usually I'm trying to coax you into opening up to me._ I take a seat across from her and sip the bitter black brew.

"You haven't looked for her yet Don." She peers at me over the top of her coffee cup.

Before I can open my mouth she goes on.

"I understand. I don't want to put you in an awkward position but I have and I know it. I'm sorry for that." She sips her coffee and looks at me. "If you and your brothers were in a fight and one of you didn't make it out, you'd go back. You wouldn't leave them. Not one of them." Her hand is trembling as she sits the cup down.

"Zoe it's been two years," I shake my head and reach my hand out for her arm.

I begin to unwrap it. The wound looks good. She heals well. And judging from the multiple scars alongside this newest one, not to mention the rest of her, the underside of her chin, her neck, and her arms, it's a good thing she heals well. I only know how she received a handful of these scars, like the one across her shoulder from an enemy katana in the fight at April's apartment. There's a matching scar on her leg. Her arm, the left arm, that's the only other one I know the story of. _What was it, not the nightmare, the other? Oh, the tracker. She must be removing it in her nightmares._

I cross the room and grab my first aid kit from the old oak sideboard and prep to remove the sutures. They come out easily and I'm done in five minutes.

"I know I should let it breathe but I'm working out today," She points to her arm.

"I'll wrap it, but be sure to let it get some air every day until it's as good as it's going to get." I begin re-wrapping her arm with gauze and covering it with Raph's red athletic wrap. Between the two of them I go through enough to buy it by the case.

I pick up my first aid kit and go to put it down on the hutch. When I turn around she's standing there. She opens her arms and reaches around pulling me into a hug.

"Thank you for always being there Donatello. You're a good brother and I love you." I feel her tears sliding down my plastron. She pulls away and wipes at them, heading for the back door and not looking back.

I'm think I'm hacking into Shelton Research Campus today.


	4. Chapter 4

**Zoe**

Kyusho is pressure point focused martial arts and it's priceless to a fighter my size. It has become my focus since sparring with four giant ninja turtles. When your attacker has the upper hand in size and strength, you need to know the quickest and most efficient way to take them down. You work with what you've got and I've got speed and accuracy. Raph and I have been working hard at fine tuning my skills in this area as it's my best defense and it's worked well for me. Problem is when you spar with the same four again and again for two years, they know your signature moves and they're ready for them… Hell they've taught me many of them.

Right now I'm setting my playlist. It irritates Raph to no end that I like to fight to music. I bounce on my feet, having finished my warm up. _Yeah. You've been pissing me off with that damn pouting Big Guy. Mama's taking you down this morning. Let's do this._ Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, but he's still my sensei and to him I don't say a damn word.

I step onto the mat and he glares at my earbuds. He shakes his head. He's broken at least five of my Ipods. Donnie has me reduced to a Shuffle when fighting now, no screen for Raph to break. He'll go for my earbuds first. He always does. _Simon Curtis, Superhero, on replay… And. Here. We. Go._

He's pissy and attacks first. I block his swipe at my earbuds and duck, reach in and hit my first point. He moves to sweep my leg, his preferred method to take me down without hurting me, his arm is behind my back his foot between mine, I spin towards him and tap my next two points and he sinks to his knees.

"You're ruthless Zoe," Mike laughs, watching us as he tapes up his knuckles.

I point to my earbuds, which are still in my ears for once, and shake my head.

"You next Mikey?" I remove them from my ears and grin at him.

"I want a rematch." Raph groans from the mat.

"Of course you do Honey. But I'm a busy girl with lots to do today. I couldn't spend all morning getting my ass kicked if I'm going to convince you to get on board with my plans."

He rolls onto his shell, "And what're your plans?"

"To ask Mike to take an overnight trip with me," I look at Mike who seems shocked.

"What?" They say in unison.

"Trust me. I need some one on one time with little brother." I lean over to look down at Raph who's still grunting for breath. "Say yes, because you trust me and you trust Mike. I need a break, some r & r."

"Don't feed me that r & r bullshit. You don't know the meaning of it." He shakes his head at me. "You think you're going to learn something from Mike? What? Convince him to get on board with your little plan? It's Leo you need to win over to make any headway."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Mike protested.

"Stop being an ass Raph. I shouldn't have to convince anyone to do anything. You guys would die for one another. I fucked up and I've got to make it right… if anyone wants this… this crap I'm putting us all through to stop." I point to my heart and smack my chest. "Just, tell me you'll take care of Anton for one night while I go sort some shit out and forgive me for needing your brother's help to do it!" Tears sting my eyes and I know he sees them.

"Fine. Go." He rolls to his feet and storms out of the dojo.

Mike is staring at me.

"What?!" I snap at him.

He holds his hands up as if in surrender, "Nothin' Babe. What're we doing?"

"We're taking a hike. But I don't expect us to come back until tomorrow. You game?"

"Sure, but if we're spending the night outside we're roasting marshmallows." Mikey's blue eyes sparkled.

"Of course, come on let's pack."

**Zoe**

Mikey was all but skipping down the trail, humming his favorite song. We'd been walking for two hours. Being as he could run for miles and hours on end, a little trail didn't faze him. He stopped several times to investigate a flower, point out a butterfly or bird and observe a box turtle. He looked at the small creature, smiling, and seemed maybe to be reflecting on how different his life was from where it began.

We were preparing to climb a steep rocky hill. I carried one of Donnie's bo staff's using it for a walking stick. I slipped it in the leather holder on my back pack and tightened my shoelaces. "You ready for a little climb Mikey?"

"Pshh, please. This ain't no thang girl." He laughed and we began our ascent.

It was steep enough that we were clinging to the ground, grabbing rocks and placing our feet with care. Mike made it up in five minutes. I on the other hand kept grabbing loose stones and they'd fall away. Mike looked down at me grinning, "Come on Z, what's taking you so long?"

I laughed, "Don't worry about me, Mikey, I'm workin' it out."

Three quarters of the way up the steepest part of the incline I reached for a flat jagged stone sticking out from the earth. It seemed sturdy enough to hold me. I had one foot on a flat stone beneath me and shifted my weight to the stone in hand and pulled myself up. As I reached my left hand for the next stone above me it completely gave way leaving me dangling from the flat jagged one.

"Zoe!" Mike yelled and tossed me down a rope as if he'd been waiting for me to request it.

"I'm good Mike," I swung from the rock and felt it slipping from the earth.

"Zoe! Just take it! If you die Raph will kill me and we don't want that now do we?" He laughed but it was fraught with tension.

I growled and snatched the rope, the rock I dangled from fell to the ground far below. With the rope in hand I climbed the rest of the way up in two minutes. At the top he yanked me into a hug, "Don't scare me like that Sis."

"Sorry Mikey," I hugged him back.

"Come on the trail picks up over here." It's flat at the top of the hill, like a meadow. The trail veered to the left and into the woods.

"Well Mike we're not going that way. We're uh, on a bit of a stealth mission so we're going off trail." I smiled and motion for him to follow me to the right across the meadow and into the woods.

"Huh? _What's_ going on Zoe?" Mike gets a little nervous whenever Karai or I surprise him. We've earned the moniker "Yin-Yang" twins and tend to get into mischief together. A wicked grin spreads across my mouth, knowing tonight would be no exception.

"Well I can't make it _too_ easy for Raph and Leo to find us later." I look back over my shoulder to his confused baby face.

"You expect them to come looking for us?" He grins, "You know you're safe with me Z. I got skills." He grinned, brushing off his shoulder and raising his eye ridges.

"Of course you do. That's why I brought you. Big Guy thinks I don't know the meaning of r & r…" I flashed him a mischievous smile.

The sound of running water grew louder the further into the woods we walked. Finally we reached a massive swimming hole, with a breathtaking ten foot waterfall to the right of it. Late afternoon sun glistened over the ripples in the clear water.

"It's about time! What took you so long?" Karai seemed to appear out of nowhere they way she likes to do.

Mike's mouth fell open as he looked her over from head to toe. "Wow."

Karai modeled her royal blue string bikini. "I know, right?"

"Is April here yet?' I asked dropping my backpack next to the tent Karai had already pitched. She had firewood set up for a campfire and seemed to have been there for at least an hour already.

"Soon, she's trying to convince Donnie to come. But he's hardcore into some research project… I think it's for you Zoe." Karai picked up her beach towel and laid it in the sun near the water. "Did you bring it?"

I opened my black backpack and pulled out the Ipod and speaker dock, "You know it."

"Wait, what's going on?" Mike's eyes darted from Karai to me and back.

I bit my lip trying to keep from laughing, set up the Ipod into the dock and turned on the music. "Mikey, it's a party, albeit a small one, it will get the job done." I grabbed the edges of my black tank top and pulled it over my head revealing my red demi cut bikini top, then tugged off my yoga pants exposing my matching scoop bottoms. "We are overdue for some uninhibited F.U.N.!"

Mike's eyes about popped out of his head, "YES!"

"I'm here, sorry I'm late!" April appeared from between two cedar trees. She shoved a lock of red hair behind her ear and tossed her backpack alongside mine and Karai's. She then pulled her yellow t-shirt over her head and unzipped her jean shorts. Her amethyst halter string top bikini with matching boy short bottoms seemed to glitter in the sunlight. She seemed to just notice Michelangelo who stood gaping at all three of us, "Oh, hi Mikey!"

"You three have done this before." Mike's eyes darted over us, a slow smile dawning his face. "Awesome!"

"Just one thing though Mikey," I reached into my bag and pulled out a bottle of bourbon, "You have to take a shot."

Mike grimaced, "I'm not much for that stuff Zo."

"Initiation!" Karai laughed and took a swig from the bottle before passing it to me.

I took a shot off the bottle and passed it to April who took a quick swig, shook her head and made a "bbrrrr" sound.

"COME ON MIKEY!" The three of us said together.

Mike frowned, staring at the bottle, "Do I haveta?"

"If you want to stay and PARTAY!" Karai winked at him.

Mike took a small shot. "Eww. That's awful."

"It'll do Mike, it'll do." I smacked him on the shoulder.

"When did you, how did you all-" Mike scratched the back of his head.

"You four aren't the only ninjas in the house Mike," I laughed.

" _You_ totally sneak out!" He pointed at us.

"We totally do. Every time it gets too stressful. Only this time Zoe wanted you and Donnie to come." April looked at me as if I'd revealed a sacred secret.

"Mike and Don deserve a break too. Is Donnie coming April?" I took another swig of the bourbon, swallowed it and reached into my pack pulling out a six pack of glass bottle Cokes and handed them out.

"He promised. He wanted to finish something up first," She took a sip of her Coke, "You know Raph and Leo are going to find us when they realize we're all gone right?"

I took another shot off the bottle, "Yeah well they'll get over it. I plan on having some fun between now and then."

Karai took the bourbon from my hand before I could take another drink. "Slow down there Red, we've got all night to party."

We swam until the sun started to set then started our campfire.

Donatello appeared between the cedars April had arrived through earlier, "You didn't make it hard to find you with all the purple ribbons on the path and the loud music." He smiled and kissed April on her cheek.

"You took them down on your way, right?" April ran her fingers down his plastron and leaned into him.

"Of course I did. I'm not trying to leave a trail for just anyone to find us." Don handed April the handful of purple ribbons.

He looked around the camp and nodded, "So what is going on here anyway?"

With a good buzz in my head and I'm sure Karai, April, and Mike's, we gathered in front of Donatello.

"Welcome to girls night Donnie. Here," I held out the bourbon to him.

"Oh. No. No thank you." He shook his head and stepped back.

"Loooosen your mask Donnie and take a ssshot!" Mike slurred and smacked his brother on his shell.

Donatello looked annoyed, "You are inebriated."

"It's a good thing Donnie, trusss me bro," Mike took a shot and handed the bottle to his brother.

Don looked at April, "Have you been drinking this too?"

April grinned, "It's just one night Don. Come on, have some fun with us."

Donatello shook his head.

April stepped in front of him and removed his headgear, leaving him to keep his glasses. She slipped off his backpack. He stood trembling as she circled him like a cat stalking her prey. Then standing in front of him she stroked his cheek and his nerdy laugh escaped him. She ran her fingers down his arm sliding to his hand and placed the bottle in it. Then she moved the bottle to his lips, "Take a little sip Donatello, it won't kill you."

So he surrendered to his amethyst bikini clad siren and took a sip… and he liked the way the liquid burned his throat and heated his insides.

_**An Hour Later** _

"Save some for Leo and Raph," Karai laughed taking the bottle from Donatello and putting the lid on it.

"Yea, because _they're_ so going to drink some of it," Mikey quipped.

"In between yelling and lecturing, eh, you never know." I shrugged.

"Oh I love this song! Zoe come on, dance with me!" Karai grabbed my hand and pulled me from my spot around the campfire.

"Turn it up Mike!" I called back to him as Karai and I climbed atop a massive down tree as if it were the counter of a bar.

"Miley Cyrus, _really_?" Donatello shook his head disapproving.

"Like I care who sings it, the beat works for me!" April ran over to climb aboard the tree with us.

"Yeah and We Can't Stop!" I laughed helping April up behind me.

The three of us stood in a line my back to April's front, April's back to Karai's front. We moved together in a seductive rhythm. The truth was we always danced together when we did this. This was as close to freedom as we could get within the confines of our complicated lives.

_It's our party we can do what we want._

_It's our party we can say what we want._

_It's our party we can love who we want,_

_We can kiss who we want,_

_We can sing what we want_

April and Karai sang the first verse and I traded places with April for the middle. I danced between the two girls running my hands over my body and just enjoying myself.

_If you're not ready to go home_

_Can I get a Hell No!_

_Cause we're gonna go all night_

_Til we see the sunlight, alright_

I glanced over in Mike and Don's direction and found not only their mouths hanging open but Raphael and Leonardo standing behind them with gaping pie holes too.

I made eye contact with my hot headed lover, smiled like the devil I am and stepped down from my perch. I marched over to him, took his hand and guided him away from the party but within earshot of the music. I stepped up on a rock bringing me eye to eye with him.

"And I can't stop, and I won't stop…" I change the "we's" to I's and lean into him brushing my lips over his cheek. "I like this song," I run my fingers down his plastron, "it makes me feel… free... to do whatever I want for a while."

He runs his fingers down my neck, tracing the length of my body, pausing over my breast and tugging lightly on the cup of my top, "I like this color on you." From there his hands slide down to my bottoms and he runs his fingers along the edges.

"You always have," I whisper over his lips. My hair falls across my cheek from the tilt of my head and he reaches up, brushes it back and presses his mouth against mine.

"Ah come on you two! This is a party!" Donatello yelled over to us.

"Yeah and Karai is trying to get Leo to take a shot!" I hear Mike yell and see him toss a rock in our direction.

"I'm _not_ taking a shot." Leo insisted.

The rock hit Raph's shell and he stiffened beneath my lips, breaking into a growl.

"You've been drinking. And from the taste of you, you're drunk." He snapped at me.

I roll my eyes and shove a finger into his plastron, "Yes I have. Mr. I don't know the meaning of r & r, lighten up and drink with me! Come on, even Leo's going to have a drink!" I grabbed his hand and he allowed me to tug him along behind me.

"Leo is _not_ having a drink." Leo refuted.

As we pass Mikey, Raph reaches down and smacks him in the back of the head. "Don't be throwin' shit at me."

"Lighten up RRRRaph," April giggled.

" _April?_ _Really?_ You too?" Leo shook his head disapprovingly, "And for the record I am not-"

Karai took the bottle from Donatello's reluctant hand, and shoved it in Leo's plastron, "DRINK!"

"Uh no. Someone here has to act responsibly." He shook his head.

Karai shrugged, "Fine, _leave._ "

"What?"

I wrapped my arm around Karai's shoulder and April wove her arm among ours, "This is our party. You weren't invited but you're welcome to stay. The only rule's are, number one, you drink with us. I don't care if you just lightly taste it. Drink. And rule number two, no lectures and no yelling. So drink up boys or we'll see ya tomorrow."

"Well said Z, welllll saidddd," Mike slurred and Raph glared at him.

"Here, here! And pass me the bottle back!" Donnie laughed his nerdy laugh and Leo's mouth fell open again.

" _Seriously?_ You got _Donnie_ drunk! You three are…. Are…" Leo's eyes darted over the three of us helplessly.

"Impossible. They're impossible." Raph motioned to Karai for the bottle and she handed it to him. He took a hard swig off it and handed it to Leo. "They're impossible Leo, but they're ours. Drink up Brother."

"Yeaaaahhh!" Mike jumped up and down.

Leo looked from Raph to Karai and took a small swig off the bottle, "You will pay for this Karai."

She laughed at him, "I'm counting on it." She grabbed mine and April's hands and led us back over to dance on our tree.

_**An Hour Later** _

The three couples are sitting beside the water hole, turtles behind girls, heads resting against plastrons. We watch the moonlight play over the water or gaze at the stars sparkling above the tree tops as lovers do. Mike acted like he was passed out in his sleeping bag but I knew better. I'd love to lay in Raph's arms until I fall asleep but my heart hurts for Michelangelo.

"I'll be back in a minute," I kiss his cheek and he nods slightly.

I lie across my sleeping bag and pull my pillow under my forearms. My bag is next to Mikes, Raph's is on my left. Raphael was surprised but pleased that I had brought his bag. I knew he'd come and I knew he'd stay.

"Mikey, you awake?" I poked a marshmallow stick into the fire.

"No, I'm sleeping… unless you're roasting me a mallow." He peeked out from his sleeping bag and I laughed.

"I'm roasting you a mallow Bro," I turned the stick holding it well into the fire. He rolled over onto his forearms. He likes them really burnt like I do. I guided the stick holding the flaming melting goo in his direction. He blew out the fire and slid it off the stick shoving it into his mouth.

As he licked the cream off his fingers he stared into the flames thoughtfully, "Zoe…"

"Yes Mikey?"

"Do you think there's someone out there for me?" His eyes sparkled with innocence and hope.

"I _know_ there is Mike. Don't worry about that for one minute. You've got so much to give. I can't believe you're not taken already." I smiled at the youngest turtle and meant every word. I'd never lie to Mike. It was understandable that he and the others had their doubts. We were even more isolated now than in the city. So it's not like there was much opportunity to meet anyone and if he did what were the chances it would work?

His face lit up, "You really think so?"

I laughed, "Oh Mike, I know so." I burned a mallow for myself then another for him. Both of us sat up Indian style.

"Mike." I said handing him another marshmallow.

"Yea Z?"

"I need you to get behind me on this mission, but only if it's in your heart to do it." I looked from the fire into his optimistic blue eyes, "No regrets Mikey."

He thought for a moment and nodded his head. "I'm in Z."

"Is that the alcohol talking?" I asked tugging lightly on the tails of his mask.

He shook his head, "No. You're my best friend and sister, Zoe. And if you need me behind you, I'm there."


	5. Chapter 5

**Zoe**

"Why do you smell like bubblegum?" Raph sniffed me while Anton played with Raph's sunglasses from atop his shoulders.

"Mommy smells like bubblegum!" He mimicked Raph and tried to put on his sunglasses but kept missing his face and going over his head.

"Why are you sniffing me?" I leaned against the dresser as he stood over me.

"It's… you smell like Anton." He raised an eye ridge and I laughed.

"I'm out of body wash so I had to use his."

I was going to have to do something I didn't want to do soon and Raph knew it.

"It's your turn to go to the store isn't it?" He watched me squirm at the idea.

I looked away and shrugged.

"You can ask April or Karai to go with you." He never gave me shit for not wanting to go out in public places anymore. There was enough he didn't know about me, but he really didn't need to, he _understood_ me. He envied the fact that I could go to the store without having to wear a ridiculous disguise. What he didn't envy was the sheer panic I endured… The idea of walking around a crowd of people and trying to find what I was looking for… the fluorescent lighting… the music… I'd rather have a fight in a back alley than go to the damn store.

I shook my head, "No. It's my turn. I'm just putting it off…" I bit my lip and let my eyes flicker over him to rest on Anton. "Besides, bubblegum smells good, doesn't it Anton?"

Anton's green eyes flickered with mischief right before he threw his dad's sunglasses at me. I reached up and caught them never looking away from my son's face.

"You've got to quit throwing stuff Antonello." I shook my head, handing Raph his shades.

"Kids got a good arm." Raph had one hand around Anton's ankle so he didn't fall from his dad's massive shoulders. He patted Anton on the leg, "You're good at throwing things aren't ya?"

"I'm good at throwing stuff!" Anton bounced and smacked his dad on top of his head.

I raised an eyebrow, "Right well, Leo's waiting for me in the dojo this morning."

Raphael grinned, "Hey you, April and Karai thought getting him drunk would be fun. He said you'd pay and," Raph chuckled, "it's time to pay."

I jabbed a finger in his plastron, "He said _Karai_ would pay."

He shook his head, and flashed me that damn heat-me-up grin of his, "You were behind that party and we all know it."

"But _Raphael_ , I don't know what r & r is, remember?" I swung my hips, sauntering toward the bedroom door. I looked over my shoulder and blew him a kiss on my way out.

I could hear Anton giggling and caught a glimpse of my sweet son blowing me a kiss back.

_**In the Barn/Dojo** _

I walked into the barn to find Karai sweating buckets and April stretching, a pained expression on her face.

"Is it like that?" I asked them.

Karai eyed Leo as he studiously taped his wrists.

"You have no idea. Remember that time Raph punished you for an entire day?" She raised a perfect black eyebrow and looked from me over to Leo, "He's worse."

"Fickety fuck," I whispered recalling the suffrage.

"Good morning Zoe, nice of you to join us," He crossed his arms over his plastron, flashing me his _'I'm not amused'_ smirk.

_Shit._

He stalked around me, "You're late."

"You're not my Sensei," I shrugged.

As if on cue the barn door opened and Raph came to stand next to his brother assuming the same damn arms across the plastron position.

April, Karai and I all moaned at the same time.

"Jesus, it was _one_ party and I'm pretty sure you all had fun too."

_This is bad, very bad._

"Zoe, we all had hangovers for two days. None of us were in any condition to protect our family if something happened." Leo shook his head and Raph stared me down.

" _Please,_ we haven't had to protect our family since we moved here. Beyond our usual discretions anyway," I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest imitating them both.

_DANGER. DANGER. Zoe. Shut up!_

"Uh, Zoe," April tried to stop me.

"No, but isn't that _exactly_ the situation you want to put us in right now?" Leo snapped at me.

I clenched my teeth, my fingernails digging into my palms. "You know what Leo, _you_ don't have to do anything. And from the way you and Raph talk and act you won't be going anywhere. Well, _I_ will be. I'm going with or without you."

"Zoe-" Karai tried to interrupt me.

Raph was swelling, nostrils flaring, his body trembling.

_Shut. Up. Zoe._

Leo glared at me.

"I tell you what else _Leo_ , you go ahead and delve out whatever punishment you and Raph have planned. I can take it. And when it's over and I'm still standing, you listen to what I have to say."

"Zoe, are you speaking on behalf of all of us or just yourself, because I really don't want to be on the receiving end of the wrath of Leo and Raph." April whispered to me.

"Me either," Karai mumbled.

"I left a girl behind to a fate worse than death," I stared right into Leo's eyes, "I did it. Me. I failed her. I was her _leader_ and I failed her and I can't live with it anymore. She deserves better and I am going to deliver," I glanced at Raph, "Even if it kills me, with or without your help." I stepped back into my fighting stance, "So let's do this."

"Shit." Karai and April said, as they stepped alongside me.

"You girls going down together?" Raph shook his head.

"You know it." We said in unison.

Leo uncrossed his arms, "Pick your weapon."

"I _am_ a weapon, Fearless." I hissed.

Raph couldn't hide his grin. He uncrossed his arms and cracked his neck.

"Fuck, Zoe _stop_ talking!" Karai snapped at me then looked at Leo, "I'm going to take this opportunity to arm myself."

Leo nodded and unsheathed his katana.

"Me too," April darted over to the weapons wall and selected a katana. She grabbed two tessen and looked sideways at Karai who nodded. April stuck them in her back pockets.

Karai returned to the mat with her katana as well.

"Last chance Z," Raph warned me.

"To what, back down or arm myself?" I fixed my gaze on him, "No thanks, I'm good."

"ZOE STOP TALKING!" April and Karai yelled.

All fighters took a stance. It was three little girls, at the opposite end… of two giant turtles _._

_I should have kept my mouth shut and I know it._

"Oh, wait, just a minute." I held up a finger and darted over to the stereo system Donatello installed for us girls. I glance back at Raph and grinned, "No earbuds today Baby, something tells me they wouldn't make it. So this will just have to do."

"No music Zoe," Leo refused.

"Consider this my weapon Fearless." I locked in my Ipod and selected my playlist.

 _Simon Curtis, you are my Superhero._ _Provide me a little distraction._ I smile, it's on repeat, and that pisses Raph and Leo both off. Don't know if it's good to piss off your opponent, but hey I'm trying to get myself killed today so let's do it right.

The music starts and Raph clenches his teeth and much to my surprise he pulls out his sai.

I hear April gasp.

Karai swears.

I smile.

Raph attacks first, being the brute he is. I knew he wouldn't wait. He comes after me. Leo goes after Karai and April at the same time. The clinks of swords and grunts of a struggle ensue. I however am carefully watching Raph lead with his left and I slide to my right ducking under his blow and tapping my first pressure point. He snarls, spins and swipes at me. I back-handspring away from him and watch as he circles me. Funny thing happened over the past two years. I've studied _his_ moves. He likes to lead left, Leo right. I'm going to have to pull off a series if I'm going to get him down and he's not going to leave himself open for it. He's coming at me again and he's going for a sweep. I flip away, bounce back up and kick out at him. He snatches me out of the air and now I'm in trouble.

Karai is in a heavy sword fight with Leo. "Help her April," she grunts.

April nods and comes to my aid. Raph has me by my arms. I kick my feet into his plastron as April kicks him in the back of the leg, behind his knee, she then flips back, jumps up and tosses my tessen into the air. He releases me to address April and I somersault and land on my feet jumping back into the air and grabbing my weapons.

"You got this Z?" She pants, ducking and weaving from Raph's attack.

"Have I ever." I flip out the twin metal fans and take a fighting stance, "Hey _Big Guy_ , let's go."

Raph tosses April up into the air and she somersaults back to her feet. He barrels at me sai ready. We engage in a series of combinations before I launch a tessen at the side of his leg to create a distraction for me to move in and execute my pressure point sequence. He reaches down to snatch it and I fling the other at him, grazing his arm. He seems surprised as I spin into his plastron hands moving quickly and efficiently. He gasps and falls flat on his shell.

I leave him laying there grunting as I move in on his brother. "You ready Leo? I think I have five minutes till your brother's back on his feet."

Leo glares at me as I step along side April and Karai.

"You're running your mouth a lot today Zoe." Leo circles us.

_He'll pick us off one by one._

"Well I'm disappointed Leo. I understand Raph, blah blah I'm a woman and my place is with our son. Blah, blah. What the hell's the difference between a woman fighting or a man? Shouldn't we all just stand together?" I glance over at my lover twitching on the mat not far away. I shake my head and lock eyes with Leo, "But you, you'd never leave any of us behind and we all know it. Yet here I need to right my wrong and you're against it?"

_Any minute now, I'm going to pay for every time I've opened my mouth today._

"I never said I wouldn't support you, stand by you, or lead you anywhere you asked me to. You jumped to the conclusion that I wouldn't help you. But _you_ never _asked_ me." He said in his matter-of-fact leader tone.

 _What? He's right. I didn't ask him. Wait. What?_ "Wait? Are you saying?"

_Here he comes, shit._

Karai and April know to create a distraction while I seek my entry point. I flip away to get behind him while the girls engage him from the front. And there it is, he disarms April, Karai disarms him. Hand to hand with April and Karai in the front while I move in behind him. _Tap, one to the arm, two to the side, and one to the leg. Leo is down._ I stand in between the two brothers grunting and groaning on the floor.

 _I did it. I finally did it!_ I look at Karai and April with my eyes wide and my mouth open.

Their expressions match my own, "You did it!" they scream.

I walk over to Raph who opens his eyes, "You're evil Zoe. Fuck this hurts."

I nod, "I'm sorry Baby. Really, in more ways than you know." I look away from the physical and emotional pain in his eyes.

I walk over to Leo. Karai and April watch in silence. I lean over him. "I didn't get you as bad as I got Raph." I hold my hand out to him. He looks me in the eye and takes it.

"Good job Zoe." He says with one hand over his side, and his attacked leg bent at the knee.

"Did you mean it?" I study his face.

Leo doesn't bullshit. He brags now and then and gets kinda cocky, but he doesn't tell me or anyone else he's going to do something he doesn't intend to do. I already know what he's going to say. I just need his brother to _hear_ it.

"Zoe, your intentions are honorable. You're in great shape. Your mind and heart are in the right place. I'd be proud to help you, and more than anything else, I'm glad you finally asked." He reached out and pulled me to him. "Love you Little Sister." He squeezed me.

"Thanks Leo, I love you too."

"Now please, turn that song off." He released me and waved a hand at the stereo rubbing his head like he had a headache.

April and Karai laughed and hugged me.


	6. Chapter 6

**Zoe**

"We need paper towels!" Mike opened the cabinet under the kitchen sink and dug around searching for them but coming up empty.

"We need toilet paper too." Leo washed his hands at the sink, he pushed on the soap pump but nothing came out, "and soap."

"We need detergent! I'm trying to do laundry here people!" Karai yelled from the hallway laundry room.

"We need food!" April looked in the pantry then closed the doors and checked the chore schedule on the wall.

"ZOE!" They all yelled at the same time.

I finished changing Anton's diaper and glanced over at Raph.

"The time has come Z." He grinned at me.

I roll my eyes and sigh. _Fuck._

"I need some first aid supplies too, here's a list." Donatello thrust a list at me.

"Uh, I need to wash my hands. I just finished changing a diaper. Raph, help a girl out, please?" I nod at the list, held by the irritated nerdy brother.

"Good luck finding soap!" Leo complained from the kitchen.

Raph laughed and took the list from Donatello.

"I'm going, I'm going." I set Anton back on his feet and washed my hands in the hall bathroom.

I make my way back to the old cigar box atop the fridge. I pull out its contents, mainly supplied by Karai and April's part time jobs, as well as Donnie's IT help line job and shove the money in my jeans pocket.

"Zoe, I have a list too." Splinter hands me his list and I smile at him.

"Of course," I shove the list along with Donatello's and the main list from the chore chart into my pocket. "Does anyone want to come with?" My attempt for company only falls on April and Karai's ears because no one else goes to the store.

"Nope. You're on your own this trip Z." Karai yawns, "I'm going to take a nap."

"Can you bring back a pizza too? The fridge is pretty empty." April pads off down the hall to Donnie's lab.

I slip into my walking shoes and grab the keys to the van, chewing on my lip till it bleeds.

Anton is climbing on Mike while he watches Franklin the Turtle on t.v., "It'll be okay Z, you'll be back and it'll be over before you know it." Mike flashes me his reassuring smile and I'm briefly comforted by it.

Raph follows me onto the front porch, "You okay?"

I swallow. "It seems stupid, doesn't it?"

He shakes his head, "No Z, it's not stupid." He pulls me in for a hug and I close my eyes and try to clear my head. Breathe. Just breathe.

"I better go." I groan.

He smiles at me, "Yeah, we don't want Mike and Anton both hungry for dinner at the same time, with nothin' to give'm."

I flinched, "Oh yeah, that _would_ be bad."

**Donatello**

"Is she gone?" I ask Raph as he walks in the front door.

"Yeah, so what's the big deal?" He looks at me as Karai, April, Leo and Splinter gather around.

Mike covers a sleeping Anton with a blanket and shuts off the tv. He takes a spot, standing next to Raph.

"I think you all should see what I've found about the facility Zoe is from. I'm going to talk to her about some of it and tell her that I have found Exodus… but… Guy's, I learned a lot about Zoe. Stuff I think we all need to know… as her family."

"I will stay here with Antonello." Splinter offered and sat on the couch next to him.

"Thank you Sensei." Raph nodded.

They followed me to my lab, crowding around my work table and monitor. I had a file I'd printed off about Zoe. I found it in the labs database. I handed it to Raph who flipped through it and closed it.

"Zoe was conditioned to kill. As in, she was beaten if she didn't." I clicked a video recording I had ready to play. "I found it, during my research."

_Zoe stood splattered with blood, katana in hand, among two dozen bodies. Her chest was heaving. A blonde about the same height as Zoe, attacked her. The two battled for several minutes before Zoe knocked the girl out, but didn't kill her. A taller man with shoulder length dark hair came to stand over Zoe, who sank to her knees before him. He kicked her in the chest and brought his katana under her chin forcing her to look at him._

"What's he saying to her Don?" Leo asked watching the man's mouth.

I made some adjustments and turned on the audio.

" _You failed AGAIN! Get up and do it AGAIN!" The man swiped his katana at her throat creating a razor fine line across it. He reached back and brought it down hard against her arm, flicking it against her skin at the last second leaving a lash mark._

"Bastard," Raph growled.

"If she so much as breathed too deep he could've killed her." Leo leaned in closer to watch what happened next.

_The man reached back to strike her again and Zoe rolled away, flipping to her feet. The blonde got to her feet too. "Finish her!" The man yelled at the blonde, lashing her on the back with the flat of his blade, blood seeped through the white linen top the girl wore outlining the wound. The blonde stalked Zoe. The two women circled each other, stepping over bodies. Then her face came into clear view._

"She looks just like Zoe, only with blonde hair." Mike gasped.

_The two women engaged in yet another sword fight. The blonde had Zoe, it was almost over. Except a visible change occurred in Zoe's eyes, one they all recognized from the first fight they'd seen her in on the rooftop of her apartment two years ago. Two strikes later the blonde lay throat slit, eyes wide, mouth agape on the floor, blood spurting from her jugular. Zoe's death strike ended and she dropped her blade and collapsed._

"Shit." Leo, Raph and Mike said together.

"Poor Zoe," April frowned, her hand pressed against her mouth.

"Zoe's a badass." Karai nodded in admiration.

"There's a dozen more just like it. There's different fighters, different winners. But every time Zoe's in the room, she's the last one standing." I close the video and click on another link, "But there's more after that too. Check this out. Any of you ever wonder why seeing us for the first time didn't bother her?"

I selected a video feed of Zoe fighting creatures that looked like they were half lion, some were half rhino, others half serpent, another half leopard, and another half wolf.

"Wow. Zoe went up against that?" Karai put her finger over the rhino guy.

"Last one standing, every time." I fast forwarded to Zoe slitting the rhino-man across his belly his intestines spilling out onto the floor, she whirled around and slit his throat for good measure.

"I'm going to be sick." April clutched her stomach and looked away.

"It was kill or be killed, obey or be beaten," I brought up her file and clicked through to her schedule, showing them the last day she was there and what was planned for her the next day. "Zoe was scheduled to be bred to their best male fighter, because she was the best female. There's a video of the first attempt but you don't want to see it. She damn well near castrated this wolfish looking dude." I shook my head and clicked a few more links.

Raphael growled behind me.

"But there's more." I brought up another link.

"How could there be more? What _else_ could there possibly be?" Leo waved his hand at the screen.

"The sister she thinks she killed. She didn't kill. This is a live feed." I zoomed in on Zoe's blonde twin who walked around with her arm linked with the arm of the man who'd beaten Zoe. "Zoe killed clones and believed they were real people, including people she loved. There are notes in her file about her conditioning. It took them three years to break her… to get her to kill. When she finally did she went inside herself to that blind fighter we saw when we met her."

"Oh and another interesting tidbit, her sister is bonded to their master."

"What's this guy's name Donnie?" Raph tapped a finger on the man in the monitor standing next to Zoe's sister.

"Darius Flint. He's a master of our craft and he's ruthless. He's working with _this_ guy. Are you guys ready for this? Zoë had said the scientists name was Isaac but I couldn't find anything on him. I figure he was using an alias." I click another link and bring up a picture of a very familiar, very annoying mad scientist.

"Baxter Stockman!" Leo, Mike, Raph and Karai yell in unison.

"The one and most annoying," I groan.

"What about Exodus?" April asked pointing to a link with the girls name on it.

"She's there and that's where I started to figure some more things out." I click on the link that opens Exodus's file.

"She's cute," Mike strained to see between Raph and Leo.

"Shut up Mike," Raph put a hand on Mike's head and shoved him back behind him.

"She's not quite as deadly as our Zoe. In fact, she has an undesirable character flaw as far as human weapons go." I open a training session where the girl cowered in a corner of the room until only she and the fighter that had taken out everyone else in the room were the last two standing. Only then, when backed in to the corner and forced to fight for her life, did the girl break out daggers and go for the least movements with maximum damage.

"So is she a coward or is that a strategy?" Karai tilted her head and scratched her chin.

"It's neither and both. Her file says she has horse genes, used for speed and strength and she has both. The problem is horses are flight animals and that's what she does. She flees a fight and won't defend herself unless someone she loves is in danger or she can't escape. She's vicious with a dagger though. Expert knife thrower," I clicked on an individual training session where the girl hit every target, every time, stationary or moving.

"Did they never put her in a training room with Zoe?" Raph asked.

"Uh, no, they are ranked on capability. Exodus is proficient. Zoe is among their elite. And Raph, Zoe is special to them, not only because she's their best fighter but because she and her sister are the only ones that are fertile. All of the others are sterile. Some kind of hybrid side effect. It's logged in both of their charts. Zoe is their dream prototype success story."

"Shit." Everyone said at the same time behind me.

"Please tell me _that's_ everything," Leo groaned.

"It is, unless you're ready for the blueprints." I click a few more links and bring up the schematics of the facility.

"No. He doesn't need them. We're not doing this." Raph shook his head and stepped back, clutching Zoe's file in one hand.

We all looked at him.

"How can you say that after everything you've seen?" April pointed at the monitor behind her, staring Raph in the eye.

Raph closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. "I can't lose her." He flung the file against the wall sending papers flying everywhere. He growled, at the same time punching a hole in the wall, growling again as he stormed through the house knocking over everything in his path on his way out the backdoor.

April jumped and moved closer to me.

I turned to Leonardo, "What say you Leo?"

"I made a promise to Zoe and I'm more motivated than ever to keep it." He looked us over.

"I'm in," Mike said quickly.

"Me too," Karai nodded.

"Me too," April swallowed, sounding less sure of herself than Karai.

"I'm already knee deep in this," I nodded.

"What are we going to do about Raph?" April whispered.

"There's a couple more things I want him to know about Zoe. I'm going to put the file back together, highlight them and give it to him." I stood up from my chair and started picking up the papers. April, Karai and Mike helped me.

"He's in," Leo said reaching for the manila folder, "He just doesn't want to admit it yet."


	7. Chapter 7

**Donatello**

I'm pacing outside the barn door, listening to the sounds of punching bags bearing the weight of my brother's emotions. We have five bags and I've listened to four of them surrender to his punishment.

I know that what little I have left to share with him about Zoe will not make much of a difference. It would seem like this, what I have to say, is less about the heart and more about science or biology. But to guys like me and my brothers, it's as close as we'll ever get to...

As I look down at the file in my hands I sigh, shake my head, and against my better judgment push open the barn door.

There are sawdust piles beneath the shattered bags and I watch my brother assault the last one until it too meets its fate.

_I hope I don't get my ass beat. And if I do, I hope it's not that bad._

I sit on a stack of the hay bales Zoe uses to pin her targets to when she practices with her bow.

"What do you want Don?" Raph rubs his hands over his face and turns his back to me.

If I didn't know better I'd think he was wiping away tears.

"I brought you something. It's not… its… well if I was on the receiving end of this… I'd want to know. Scientifically speaking, it's just biology but it's still pretty special and-"

"What the hell are you babblin' about?" He snatched up a bottle of water from the floor and took a swig of it.

"Zoe's bonded to you for life." I blurt out.

Raphael spits his water out all over the mat and looks at me. "What?"

"Scientifically it's kind of like marriage. Only there's no divorce option. There's only till death do you part."

"What are you- If you don't start makin' some sense!" He took a threatening step towards me.

"Okay, okay! Zoe's twin, Zaire, in her file it said that their master had- uh you know- sex- with her. After that happened Zaire devoted herself to him. They tried to pair her to the warrior they had planned for Zoe after Zoe escaped, but Zaire killed him. Every time anyone came near her with those intentions, other than their master, she'd castrate or kill them. Baxter did some testing and found that for whatever reason, when she or Zoe had sex with someone for the first time they would bond to that person… or in your case… turtle...for life. The fact that the two of you have offspring makes you a proven bonded pair. Inseparable… for the duration of her life at least. I know you two are together anyway so it doesn't make a difference but… it's kind of the closest I think any of us will ever get to marriage, so it seemed special enough to warrant telling you."

Raph stared at me for several moments before he spoke, "You're right Don. It doesn't make a difference. Now if you don't mind-"

I stood quickly, laid the folder on the hay and escaped through the barn door unscathed.

**Raphael**

Don is smart to take a walk when I tell him to. I'm not in the mood to hear anymore bullshit today. My head is _swimming_ in bullshit. That asshole beating Zoe, breaking her down like that, making her do shit no one should ever have to do. I knew that look in her eyes. I recognized the shield. I just didn't realize what she was protecting… _Her heart. Same as me in so many ways._

I shake my head and pick up the file Donatello left, then I open it and stare at her profile picture. "Bonded for life huh?" I wonder if _she_ realizes that? She seems so unaware of herself and more in tune with those around her, so it's possible that she doesn't.

_Bonded. For. Life._

I remember the first night I saw her on that rooftop. Not the night of the fight. The first night I saw movements familiar to me… only not cloaked in darkness, but surrounded by candlelight. She struggled to find herself. She was so lost, so bitterly alone. I moved in closer to see her better and recognized her pain. I just didn't know how deep it ran. I had a better idea later when she had episodes during training and the nightmares that were strewn along the way.

This tiny, perfect creature entrusted herself to me long before we made love for the first time. She fit, in my world, in ways I never thought anyone could. We are not quite human, not quite animal, damaged, wanting, hurting and struggling to survive. Fighting for the right to live and be in control of our own lives. Not bent to the will of another.

**That First Night…**

" _Need a closer look at the freak?"_

" _Don't put words in my mouth."_

**Then…**

" _I'm claustrophobic."_

_Well she didn't wimp around her fear. I gotta like that._

" _What do you want me to do bout' it?"_

**A Warriors Spirit**

_She thinks she's trouble. I have to wonder which one of us is going to bring the other more of that. She's little, but damn, she put up a hell of a decent fight. But that look in her face while she was doing it. That was some shit. The moment she lost control, the second she pulled that dagger she was gone._

" _Zoe." Her foot was flying towards my face and I grabbed it, flipping her around, pulling her into my plastron and wrapping her in my arms. She struggled like a trapped animal, sweat pouring off her shivering body. "Jesus." I blinked. For such a tiny thing she was a fighter._

**Then Splinter…**

" _Listen to your heart Raphael and you will know."_

" _Whatever relationships you have attracted in your life at this moment, are precisely the ones you need in your life at this moment. There is a hidden meaning behind all events, and this hidden meaning is serving your own evolution."_

**I Was Already Defending Her…**

" _She never questioned who we are or where we are from and you did this. Now you know more about her than she knows about us. Ya happy Leo?"_

**She Led Me To My Own Evolution…**

" _Zoe, Raphael will give your lessons from now on. He will be your Sensei, your Master."_

" _When the teacher is ready the student will appear."_

**And I Helped Her Begin Hers…**

" _How long were you- there?"_

" _My whole life, until a little over a month ago."_

" _Zoe, you're fighting and you're in control."_

**She Fought Me…**

" _Knock it off."_

" _Put. Me. Down."_

" _No."_

" _Now."_

" _No."_

" _ **You're**_ _pissing me off."_

" _You're pissing_ _ **me**_ _off."_

**She Challenged Me…**

" _I'm a turtle and you're a human."_

" _I look human Raphael. Inside I'm a genetic mess."_

" _You can have a normal life-"_

" _As if I'd even know what that is."_

" _You can be such a presumptuous ass Raphael. You're deciding my future for me. Did you not hear why I broke down the door? Freedom to choose. To choose what I want, when I want it, where and why and damn it, who. Who it is that I'm wanting. You big freaking bear, I'm telling you I want you. You. It's not like I can't see you. It's not like there are worse things running in your veins than there is mine. I don't care what you are. I'm crazy about who you are."_

**She Trusted Me…**

_She leaned her head into my plastron and I felt her relax. Is she trusting me? She's trusting me. I could feel it. I looked down at the tiny woman cradled in my arms and her red hair brushed against my cheek. She smelled like honeysuckle. It was soothing and pleasant. She didn't move around, it was as if she'd submit herself, entrusted herself to me. My heart was pounding._

" _Look Raph I spent my whole life in a lab. If you say we wait, we wait. I'm not sure what's going to happen that means the wait is over but I trust you."_

**And Challenged Me Again…**

" _But I am going out with April and Karai tonight."_

**She Tests My Willpower...**

_She's lying there in my bed… In nothing but a thong._

_Doing the right thing all the time bites ass. Not that I'll ever stop._

_She just keeps me so wound up._

_But she can also cool my fire and I need that. I like it. I want it. I want her._

_She rolls over towards me and curls up against my arm. Fuck. I roll on my side and pull her to me._

_God she is so soft, and warm, and almost completely naked..._

**And I Made Her Pay…**

" _Get up Z. Dojo in five. No excuses."_

" _Ugh, Raph what time is it?"_

" _It's five a.m. Sunshine."_

_She took her punishment._

_Hurt her ankle… and still…_

_Beat Leo that day._

**And We Made Antonello That Night…**

" _I think I love you Zoe,"_

" _I think I love you too Raphael."_

" _Say it again,"_

" _I'm in love with you Raphael."_

**Our Miracle…**

" _Uh, Zoe's pregnant."_

" _Zoe, I want this baby."_

" _Then I guess… we're having a baby."_

**She Fought For Our Family…**

" _She was pretty badass, huh? Like River Tam on Serenity when the Reavers were attacking!"_

" _The who?"_

" _Sci-fi flick, Mike and Leo will know what I'm talking about."_

" _What?"_

" _Nevermind."_

" _She should've stayed with me. I don't know what the hell she was thinkin."_

" _She cleaned house Raph. She was protecting her family. The same thing we were trying to do."_

**She Shared Our Miracle…**

" _What was that?" Mike's head whipped around to look behind him. "It's like I just got kicked in the back of the dome."_

" _You probably did."_

_Mike was staring._

_Leo and Karai lean toward Zoe to watch._

_Don and April observed from their chair._

_I can't help the smirk on my face. That is our baby. My son. And the woman in my arms is the love of my life._

_I moved her, laid her down and assumed my favorite resting spot, curled up to her side with my face resting against the mass that was her belly. I love her._

**She Gave Me A Son…**

" _I'm so tired,"_

" _You're right there Zo, you've got this."_

" _We have a boy,"_

" _What's his name?"_

" _Antonello."_

**Soul Mates…**

_The lump in my throat was unexpected and not at all wanted. I watched Zoe sleeping as I've done almost every night since she's been with me. I marvel at how this person has chosen me. Me. Me. I don't think I can ever understand it._

_She chose me…_

_Splinter says we're soul mates._

**Bonded.**

_I'm holding her and I know I've lost myself. I've never felt this vulnerable. And I've never been this willing to be._

**For.**

_She just keeps giving and she felt so good, and my heart, and my mind, and my body are screaming to me, this is right. She is right for me. She is right… for… me._

**Life.**

_I love when she laughs. It dissolves my tension and I feel compelled to laugh with her. I feel like I can be… myself… the side of me no one else knows… me… only better… with her._

Bonded for life?

I think I'm good with that.

_She's the most beautiful thing I've laid eyes on and I've saved many women. Hmm, but I never brought one home before. And technically if I was saving her it seemed like it was from herself not someone else, at least not yet. Something tells me that time will come. It always does. What the hell, bring it._

Yeah, bring it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Zoe**

I climb from the van expecting to have to carry in at least two trips worth of shopping by myself before I catch someone to help me. But as my feet hit the ground everyone but Raph, Splinter and Anton have come out to help me.

My eyebrows knit together and I purse my lips. "What's going on?" I ask handing the pizzas over to Mike.

"Nothing, I'm starving. I'm going to take care of me and Anton." He smiles at me, takes the pizzas and grabs three bags of shopping.

"Hmm, and what about you Leo?" My eyes narrow on his graceful deliberate movements. He grabs a box of diapers and two large bottles of laundry detergent.

"Just doing my part." He grabs two bags of shopping to boot and doesn't look at me as he makes his way back to the house.

"Where's Raph?" I ask watching Donatello grab a case of water, a bundle of paper towels and toilet paper.

"Barn," He swallowed nervously, his amber eyes fixed on his baggage.

" _Okay_ , what's going on here?" I pick up bags of toiletries, first aid supplies and food, but Karai and April relieve me of them.

"You should go to the barn Zoe. We'll take care of this." April whispered to me.

"Is he okay? What happened?" I mindlessly hand the van keys to Karai.

"Just… he's in the barn." Karai shakes her head and grabs a gallon of milk.

"Okay…" I saunter to the barn and listen outside the door. _It's quiet inside._ That's more frightening than listening to him pummel a bag. I push the door open and find him sitting on the floor staring into space. All five of our bags are busted, sawdust having long stopped falling from within them. _Oh, so I missed that part._

I take a deep breath and make my way over to him. "Raph, are you okay?" I kneel down in front of him and notice his knuckles are crusted with dried blood. "What happened?"

He looks at me. His green eyes are large and glossy. "I know everything Zoe."

"You know everything? _What_ everything?" I flinch slightly. My stomach is now fluttering for some reason.

"Donatello did the research you asked him to do. He found more than Exodus, Zoe." He opened and closed his mouth, swallowed and continued, "What they did to you, what you had to do, what they were going to do-"

"Stop! Stop!" I hold out my palm to stop him then cross my arms over my chest in an effort to hold myself together. My head is spinning and the gravity of his newfound knowledge leaves my knees weak. "No," I crumble and he holds me up.

"Come here," He wraps me in his arms and I sob into his plastron.

"I killed her, I killed-" I wept, trembling in his loving hold.

"Shhhh, no you didn't. Donnie said that was a clone Zoe. They were clones. Zaire's alive." He stroked my hair.

"What? Wait. Oh my God, how could I not have realized." I shook my head, wiped away the tears and looked him in the eye, "It doesn't matter. I thought I was killing her. I knew what I was doing when I did it. I was killing my own sister as far as I knew and that…. That's evil Raphael. I'm evil." I licked my lips, tasting the salt of my tears, "and I don't deserve you, any of you."

I stood up and he grabbed my arm and pulled me to him, "Don't say that. They didn't give you a choice Zoe. They fucked with your head, the only evil is them. It's not you and-" He ran his fingers through my hair, tucking it behind my ear, "I know that better than anyone."

"You still love me?" I stared at my feet in shame.

He scoffed and ran his hand through my hair tilting my head to look him in the eye, "Bonded for life."

I drew my eyebrows together, "What?"

"Nothing, I love you for always Zoe." He kissed the top of my head and pulled me close.

**Zoe**

Everybody knows. Everything. And they still love me. My family knows the depths of my darkness and they still love me. I lie in bed staring at the ceiling. The windows are cracked and a sweet summer breeze blows across the room, the curtains swaying in the moonlight. Anton is snoring in his crib. But I don't think Raph is sleeping either. I roll to face him and he's staring at me.

"You know that's kind of creepy right?" I smile at him and his eyes heat up.

"Is that right?" He grins his crooked trademark grin and I melt beneath his gaze. He pulls me to him and hovers above me in one graceful motion.

"I was thinking about going to the barn," I brush my lips over his softly.

"Why? It's two thirty in the morning. You're getting worse than Leo with his five a.m. bullshit." He's talking to me but kissing my collarbone and neck and I'm trying to clear my head of him.

"I just need to work…. _oh my_ ….some… _oh wow_ … stuff out," He pulls my sleepshirt over my head and kisses his way down my body, pausing to press his lips over my nipples, tugging lightly, before moving down to work his wicked magic between my legs.

"We're going to work some stuff out alright," He chuckled and ran his tongue across the inside of my thigh then nibbled on it playfully. I squirmed and giggled.

"Shhhh, you'll wake the baby." He looked up at me that grin cemented to his face. I moan as he slips a delicious finger inside me and moves it slowly. He adds his tongue to his rhythmic torture and I buck and squirm, panting until I beg.

"Raph…"

"Shhhh, you'll wake the baby, I already told you that." His voice echoes in my chest, my heart jerking. My skin is alight with his touch. I feel like I'm an instrument and he's wielding me beneath him. He makes his way back up to my mouth to silence me with his lips, slipping into my depths at the same time. I bite his lip and he thrusts.

" _Oh_ , my…" He makes his way just behind my ear, kissing and moaning and thrusting. I put my knuckles in my mouth and try to remain silent but I'm panting in rhythm with his thrusts. He rises up to look down at me.

"What're you doin?" He laughs softly, thrusting at the same time.

"You're cruel Raphael. I'm trying to be quiet," He thrusts again and again and I bite my lip and moan at the same time, "and you're torturing me!"

He pulls me to him and I'm lost in his passion, his perfectly blended tenderness and aggression consuming me, all the while pounding me into oblivion. I find myself building too soon and he follows suit, as we press ourselves instinctively closer. Hands held, lips locking, bodies joined. There is no end and no beginning, just two beings joined together in perfect harmony.

"I love you Zo," he cradles me in his arms and I feel treasured.

"I love you too, Raphael."


	9. Chapter 9

**Leonardo**

"Okay Donnie, show us the blueprints." I help him roll them out and we all gather around to look at them.

"What are we looking at security wise?" I ask as I scan the layout.

"I can take down the security from the van. Baxter's a scientist not a computer guru. So this doesn't look difficult at all. Cameras are everywhere but they will be down. I am going to loop a feed of non-activity so they don't suspect anything. Their guards are actually some of their science projects, hybrids like you Zoe. But they seem to be controlled by a collar. I'm still working on hacking that program and shutting them down. Zoe, do you think if they had a choice they would still fight?" Donnie pointed to various areas on the blueprints then looked over at Zoe.

"Some of them, yes. Mostly the males are devoted to Darius. They see him as their alpha and don't take much persuading to do his bidding. But you never know. It's not like they've ever been faced with the opportunity for free will." She shook her head, staring at the blueprints.

"Zoe, how did you get out?" I ask her. It may give me more insight as to how to get us in.

She blushed and looked away, "the sewer."

"I'm sorry what?" I could feel the corners of my mouth lifting. _Miss Claustrophobia escaped through the sewers? Or maybe that contributed to her claustrophobia._

"The sewer. There was an entry near the dumpsters. It was easy to slip out almost completely unnoticed. Except Exodus fell on the way to the manhole and attracted a guard. She let them take her, they never saw me. She told me that with what they had planned for me, it was more important that I got away and she sacrificed herself." She looked at the table as she talked and I felt bad for her.

"We're going to get her Zoe," I reassured her.

Raph and I looked at each other and nodded. "Do you need a break?" he asked her.

"No, let's do this." She steeled herself and I admired her determination for the thousandth time since I've known her.

"Okay, so security down by Donatello, April you're with Donnie on back-up in case anyone gets into trouble. Karai you will be with me, we'll be keeping the exit route clear here," I run my finger from the entry point, an outside office door on the basement level, to the dorms. "There will be one of us along the entire route so we'll never be far apart. Mike you're here, Raph you're here, and Zoe you get Exodus and get back to Raph then we backtrack and get out." I look at her, "that's it Zoe, this shouldn't be that hard, if you stick to the plan."

"I got it Leo, get our girl and get out." She's agreeing with me but she isn't looking at me. She's looking over the blueprints.

"What is it Zoe?" _I open the door, but will you walk through?_

She looks up at me, "I want to kill him and free them all."

I shake my head, "Exodus, Zoe. We're going for Exodus. That is all. We don't know what they've made there or what they're capable of. Stay focused, stick to the plan."

I look at Raph and he nods. We both suspect her to deviate. She's entering the source of all her pain. We don't know what to expect from her.

**Raphael**

She spends every free moment in training and that's fine with me. Donatello is busy plotting his tech attack, when he says he's ready we'll be ready to move. For now she's keeping her cool by working out. We all are. It's been two years since we've ran a mission. Leo is contemplating going back to New York a week before the actual mission to let us run up against some thugs and get us primed. I'm all for it. I need to bust some heads. It may help me clear my own.

I watch her draw back her bow and take clean shots at her targets. I always thought it was beautiful to watch her work with her tessen, like the art we practice at its best. It's the same with the bow. Her inhale and draw, aim, exhale and release. It all happens in quick, fluid movements as if she is the arrow. She even looks happy when she does it.

We have to talk though and I'm irritating her by hovering behind her while she practices. She tries to ignore me. It's good for her, since I'm a distraction. But after thirty minutes she spins around and glares at me.

"What's wrong?" She snaps.

I debate whether or not it's time and I know that it is. It's time to push her to her limits.

**Zoe**

He's been hovering over me for half an hour and I'm about to pull my hair out.

"What's wrong?" I snap at him.

He hesitates and I see him debating some non-issue in his head. He's already made up his mind to talk to me he may just not know where to begin.

"We should sit." He says finally, pointing to arrow filled hay bales and pulling two down, one for me and one for him.

He looks over at Mike and Donnie who are sparring and they seem to already know something. They grab Karai and April who were conditioning and leave the barn. Leo was already in the house reviewing the plan. Splinter was reading stories to Anton.

"Raph, what's going on?" I run my palms over my yoga pants, they seem to be damp all of the sudden.

"We need to talk about what to expect if they should…" he swallows, "if they-"

"Get their hands on me?" I finish for him and he nods. "Okay, that's not going to happen."

"Things go wrong Zoe. No plan ever goes down without some kind of fight. You and I both know it." He frowns and looks over at the punching bags we recently replaced.

"Okay, so what then?" I bite my lip.

"I'm going to try to prepare you for… the worst." He stands up and reaches out to me and I take his hand. He guides me to the mats.

"Close your eyes Z," He's taking off his mask and I have an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. My eyes dart to his. "It's me, you're safe. We can take as long as we need. We've all decided that, but you have to be ready and this is all there is left." He grins for a moment, "This and a few thug ass kicking's to warm us up on our way."

I swallow as he stands over me and ties his bandana over my eyes like a blindfold. "Yeah, it's you now. But it won't be then."

"Hopefully, then doesn't happen." His voice comforts me as well as his hands sliding over my shoulders with his reassuring touch.

"So what are we doing Sensei?" I lick my lips and tilt my head trying to sense his location.

"You know what we're doing Z." After that he goes silent.

I've learned that in a family environment it's best to turn off my empathic abilities. They can become more an invasion of privacy than they are an ability to help. In this instance they are highly useful and I reach within myself to sense Raphael's presence around me.

Breathe. In. Out. Slow. In. Calm. Out. _What do you hear?_ Breathing, very subtle breathing… _What do you smell?_ Calm. Breathe. I smell cedarwood oil, leather, and sweat… but there's more, sandalwood, steel, sweat, and more still… lavender, then there's more… coconut, wood, and _pizza_? I breathe in again and pick up more scents, all familiar to me. I tilt my head to the side and listen again, the faint breaths do not escape me and I know that it's not just Raph and I in the dojo.

 _Now what do I feel?_ Breathe _._ In. And on the exhale I reach out with my mind. I don't need to _feel_ their emotions… I need to _sense_ their presence. If I hone in on their emotions and this was a real situation I could be affected by them and that would not serve me. Blocking one part of my ability and zoning in on another is more difficult. _Breathe Zoe. You've got this._ _Start with what is closest to you._

 _Grab one emotion and you will sense their presence. Grab and block._ I exhale and send my energy away from me, like an expanding bubble. It vibrates around the room and emotions bounce back to me from different areas all around me. _Shit. That was overwhelming._ _Again and focus on the one closest to you._ Love, coconut, and wood, are to my right. Okay, Mike is on my right at my two o'clock. _Breathe. Again._

_I can fight them one at a time, but if I get them all today we can move on and they will know I'm ready._

Okay, I've got love and lavender on my left. April is on my left. Breathe _. Again._

Loyalty and unwavering love, cedarwood oil, sweat and leather, Raphael is right behind me.

Breathe. _Again._ Love and rose otto, Karai is further left slightly behind April.

 _Again._ Love and sandalwood, steel and sweat, Leo is right in front of me. _Shit._

 _Again._ Love and balsam pine, Donatello is to my right beside Mike, maybe my four o'clock.

I step back into my stance and breathe. _Love._ I'm surrounded with love and they aren't talking to me but I know they are doing this for my own good. They've got my back and they want me to know it. They want me ready to handle what I can't see.

I sense a fist coming at my face and reach up to block it. I feel a whoosh of air as everyone in the room moves and yet their presence bounces off the walls and back to me like a vibration and I can still locate each and every one. But I must deal with the one right in front of me first and damn it if it isn't one of the two hardest in the room to handle. A foot sweeps my leg and I hit the mat.

 _Breathe Zoe._ Stay on your feet, or you may not be able to get back up. I pick up Donatello on my left now. Leo is still right in front of me. _Hmmm, do I know my pressure points blindfolded?_ I should. They've been drilled into me. I crouch low and tilt me head, I echo the room again and Leo's still right in front of me, Don to my left. I attack left tapping three pressure points on Donatello's leg and hear him gasp and hit the mat. Leo's foot sweeps at me knocking my feet out from under me as I tap the last point on Donnie. I grab Leo's leg and hit two points that slow him down enough for me to climb up onto him tapping three more that drop him efficiently. _He's not getting up for a while._

Climbing off my writhing, twitching brother who made no sound beyond that of his shell hitting the matt I tilt my head again and locate Karai and April right next to each other. Karai attacks and I'm blocking her, foot coming at my head, duck, fist at my face, block. _Gees what did I do to make her mad? Oh, Leo, right. My bad._ I feel a breeze rush towards my face and I drop to the ground hearing her land behind me. I spin around sweep her feet and block her arms with my left arm while using my right hand to tap four pressure points on her body. She gasps and I feel terrible.

April is circling me but she's not alone, Mike is with her… Okay, which one first? Oh _, hell no. We have weapons now? Really?_ "Mike if you hit me with a chuck, I'll drop you for an hour." I snap, moving to my right in his direction.

I hear a suppressed chuckle and locate my love right behind me.

_Think I'm funny do you Raph? You just wait._

_Wait. Did Don have his bo?_ I move to my left and hear him grunting right next to me. I sweep my foot across the floor beside him and my toes brush the desired weapon. I kick it up towards my hand, my fingers wrap around it and I move quickly to my right in Mike's direction.

"Whoa, I'm going to lose my head! Can I tap out?" Mike squeaks.

"Me too!" April yelps as I bring the bo against her legs and sweep her off her feet.

"Stay down if you don't want anymore." I tell them. "But Mike… _you're_ not down yet." I take two steps and use the bo to help launch me in the air feet aimed at his plastron. He moves away but my feet hit the ground and I swing the bo around and catch it between his feet flipping him onto his shell.

_Distraction is everything to me._

_One left._

_Where are you Raphael?_

He sweeps me off my feet before I can pinpoint him. He snatches me up and gets my arms behind my back. I turn my head and bite his arm, kicking at the air at the same time. I throw my head back and it meets with his jaw. He drops me and takes a step back. He comes at me again, knocking me to the ground, forcing the air from me. He's never been this rough with me. He's on top of me and I'm pinned. I've got one hand by my side and one held above my head and he's putting some weight against me. I can't breathe. _He's scaring me. No. Breathe Zoe. Breathe._ _You have one free hand and it's all you need._ I reach in to where he's left his torso vulnerable to me and execute my attack. He gasps and rolls off me.

"Good job Zoe." Leo reaches down and takes my hand in his, pulling me to my feet and removing my blindfold. He places Raphaels mask in my hand.

I look around the room at my family. Some are writhing around on the floor, gasping and grunting. Mike lifts his head off the floor and gives me a thumbs up and I laugh. Don is sitting up rubbing his leg and April and Karai are helping each other off the floor.

I glance at Raph who is trying to breathe as his muscles twitch.

I look up at Leo, "Can we be alone for a minute?"

He nods and our family clears out.

I sit next to him waiting for his pain to subside.

"You okay Big Guy?" I stroke his arm after the twitching stops. He's lying there staring at the ceiling.

He takes a deep breath and rubs his naked face. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, you scared me a little but I understand why," I watch the corners of his mouth lower into a frown and he rubs his face again.

"I just-" His voice cracks and I feel my heartbreaking.

"Stop, Raph, stop. You didn't hurt me and I was a little scared but you did it for a good reason. Please, this is going to be okay."

He takes a few deep breaths his hand still over his eyes.

"Hey you should be able to sit up by now. Come on. I've got your mask," I tug on his arm and he sits up, reaches out and ever so gently pulls me to him. I stand over him, with his head resting against my stomach while I run my fingers lightly over it.

"Bonded for life." He whispers.

"What?" I pull back and look him in his glossy green eyes. "You've been saying that in your sleep Big Guy? What do you know of it?"

Mischievous Raph returns and the corners of his mouth turn up, "Don gave me your file… it says _you_ choose a mate for life." He grinned wickedly.

I feel heat rush to my face. "Did the file tell you that or Donnie?"

"Both." He raised an eyeridge, "Why?"

"I see. It's true I've bonded myself to you for life. I've given you all of me and I have no regrets. But I could turn it off. I don't want to and I don't foresee a need to, but I am capable of it." I touch his cheek, then reach down and take his hand, placing his mask in it. "Raph, the bond is a mutual thing. It's bigger than what Donatello knows scientifically. It has a sort of power… it's not a strength per se it's an ability."

"What are you sayin?" He tilts his head, accepts his mask back and puts it on, watching me all the while.

I take a deep breath, "Raphael I am able to focus my thoughts on you and determine your emotional state."

"I know that." He shakes his head.

"I can feel your emotions _and_ your physical pain. I don't do it often because I respect your privacy, but if the occasion called for it… I can and I would and will. From anywhere, no matter how far apart we are. My decision to emotionally and spiritually bind myself to you enables me to do that. The only other being I can do that with is Antonello."

I bite my lip, waiting to tell him the rest.

"There's more isn't there?"

I can't tell how he feels about this.

"You can choose to bond yourself to me too and all of those emotions and pain and sense of my whereabouts and wellbeing, they extend to you." My hands are trembling.

I knew the first time we made love that I had attached myself to him in some unbreakable connection. But I had never planned to tell him… to freak him out. Our whole relationship has been a whirlwind of emotions stuck in high gear and we were helpless to fight them, because we wanted each other so badly. And now here I am telling him we can spiritually be one. The choice is his.

"So, if we got separated, I could find you?"

"Raphael this isn't something you turn on and off easily. It's not something you choose to enter into for a mission-" I shake my head, bite my lip and look at the spaces between the boards in the barn walls. The gaps are getting bigger, more light is getting in. I like it.

He's standing now. I feel his hand wrap around my waist and pull me to him. I feel so tiny next to him and in truth I am. He's like a shield around me and I relish that. He reaches down and lifts my chin to look me in the eye. "I want you in every way that I can have you Zoe. In _every way_ and for always."

God he can make me cry the happiest tears. I hate them but I love them at the same time. I savor the swelling in my heart, the lump in my throat, the pressure and burn of the wetness in my eyes. Yet I resent the weakness, the vulnerability all of those emotions require.

He wipes away my tears and smiles his crooked grin, "So how do I-?"

I feel the smile stretching across my lips, "Oh you'll love it and hate it all at the same time."

He seems intrigued, "Is that so?"

"Yeah, that's so." I purse my lips thinking for a moment. "You know how you're different with me? _You,_ only… _you_ … the part you don't let anyone else see?"

He nods and I see the apprehension in his eyes.

"Relax, Raphael, it's just you and me."

He forces himself to breath and rubs the back of his head.

I laugh and his eyes narrow. "You don't have to do this at all, silly. It's your choice. If you want to do it, I will walk you through it. But it's deep, it's internal, it's spiritual, it's not an easy thing for you because the walls have to come down."

I can tell he wants this. I can feel it. I can see him struggling with himself.

"You know I trust you to guide me, every time we step inside these walls. I've trusted you to carry me down dark alleys, through dark sewers, to unknown places. I believe you will keep me safe at the cost of your own life. I don't doubt it for a second. I know you Raphael… only too well, because you are part of me and I am like you. You already know that. You feel it. You live it. You're already committed. You're right there and have been for as long as I have. This, this is just you experiencing the last bit of it. Something no one else gets to do, no one else can have."

He grumbles and it turns into a growl. He's moving, snatching me up and lowering me down. He's so strong yet infinitely controlled and gentle. He's so rock hard yet tender… His mouth is on mine and he's reaching for me the only way he can to get those walls down. When we are connected physically his walls crumble emotionally. If my heart could beat any harder…

"Tell me what to do Zoe," His lips brush my throat in his heavenly voice and those words…

"Love me the way you always do Raphael and when I reach for your hand you take mine and I will guide you. Let me guide _you_ for once. Trust me… mmmm," I moan as he slips inside me. "Follow me… ahhhh," he moves slowly and I wonder for a split second, when he got my clothes off. But I'm drunk on his lips, his scent, his being, I'm lost in the safety, the loyalty, the devotion in his eyes, the thought behind every movement he makes. It won't take long to get him there because he's always been right there, he just didn't know it. He's moving over me, plastron against my body, heart against my heart, he's inside me, depth of souls forever yearning and never satisfied, never close enough. His arms are intertwined with mine and I won't have to reach for him because he's reaching for me. He's placing his hands flat against both of mine and as he caresses my mouth with his tongue in sync with his every slow deliberate thrust, his eyes are open and he peers into my soul.

**Raphael**

I can do this. I can let go. I can just be me, lost inside her. I always am, wrapping myself around her, burying myself inside her, drinking her in, adoring her. I don't even have to think about being careful anymore, it's instinctual now. A little rough the way she likes but soft enough to cause her no harm. Her scent, the delicate flesh yielding to me, her heart thrumming against my plastron… or is it my own? The depths of her eyes is endless, full of everything we are and we represent. I slip my hands over hers and submit myself to her world.

**Raphael and Zoë**

If we could reach any deeper, fall any harder, go any further, stretch ourselves to the next limit, test one another, challenge each other, catch you when you fall, to shield you, if I could lose myself, I'd be willing, to give my everything, my blood, my sweat, my tears, my heart, my soul…my very being, I'd give it to you, I'd drop every wall, conquer anything that gets between us, as long as we're together, as long as we are one… I can breathe and feel you with me, always and I will be better for it all… because together we are complete.

_We've merged, an unbreakable bond has been forged and nothing else in the world matters… we are one soul, one being, living in two separate bodies, united with an invisible thread, lost inside one another, together there is no beginning and no end… only unity, an endless ring of us._


	10. Chapter 10

**New York 24 hours Later**

**The Lair**

**Zoe**

"Donnie, how's it coming in there?" I'm hovering outside the lab. It drives Donatello nuts. I'm trying not to but we're all a little on edge. It didn't take us long to get the lair clean and get us settled in. It was harder to leave Antonello behind with Splinter than it was to come back to what is now our second home. Now that we're here Leo has mentioned making a monthly trip here to help cut down some of the crime and to keep our skills sharp. I don't know about that, but we'll see.

"Zoe, stop, I will call you when I get the feed, back up. Don't you have someone to spar with right now?" Don rolls into the doorway to look at me.

"Did you ever figure out who she reminds me of?" I smile holding my hands up to back off.

"No. Now go… beat someone up." He rolls his amber eyes, then an amused grin replaces his irritation.

"What?" I shake my head. At the same time I hear the air crack and then feel a towel smack across my backside. "Ow!" I spin around and Raph is grinning and spinning it again, ready to release it.

"What the-"

"You'd better run," he teases me and smacks my backside with it again.

"Ow! You'd better stop!"

I hear the door to the lab close behind me.

Raphael laughs, "Nah, you better run." He swings the towel at me again and I duck away.

"Boy, maybe you better run." I step up to him and his eyes heat up.

"Is that right?" He steps toward me.

"GET A ROOM!" Mike yells from the couch.

I shake my head.

"What you need to do is get your asses in there and practice!" Karai hisses from the doorway of the dojo. She's dripping in sweat.

"Is Leo being a hard ass again?" I ask her.

"Is he ever not? Get in here and share some of the burden." She opens a water bottle and takes a sip.

"ZOE GET IN HERE!" Donatello yells from the lab.

"Sorry Karai, Raph would be happy to help you out though." I flinch as Don yells my name, turn around and smile at Raphael who looks at Karai and grins.

"Don't smile at me you Brute. I'm taking a damn break." She steps out of his way to let him in the dojo.

"Breaks over Karai!" Leo yells.

"Ah, go fight your brother!" Karai launches her water bottle at him then walks in my direction. "Why's Don yelling for you?"

"Want to come see?" I raise my eyebrows at her and smile.

"You mean you know?" She looks confused.

"Oh yeah, I told him to do that so I could get away from the dojo. It's our signal for he found what I was looking for. But I have to get April real quick. You're going to get a kick out of this. Go on in. I'll be there in a second." I motion to her and she looks bewildered but slips into the lab.

I stick my head in the dojo where April is trying to avoid Leonardo but it seems more like Leo and Raph are tag teaming her.

"Sorry to interrupt but Don needs April." I try not to smile but Raph isn't buying what I'm selling.

"What are you up to?" He squint his eyes suspiciously.

"Nothing! April come on!" I grab her arm and pull her along with me.

"Thank you, thank you. I didn't think that was ever going to end and then Raph came in and it got worse." She's gasping for a breath as I pull her into the lab with me.

Donatello is leaning back in his chair with the most adorable expression on his face. His amber eyes are dancing and a sweet grin adorns his mouth. "Zoe, you are the devil."

I know exactly what he's talking about. " _Me?_ Donatello. _Really?_ "

He shakes his head and rolls back pointing his finger at the girl on the monitor.

"I see you found her again for me. Did you-" I try to suppress my smile.

"What? Did he what?" April and Karai demand.

"Oh, yes, I did." He shook his head again, "Zoe, I don't even know where to begin."

"Well we have to see how it works out." I laugh.

Donatello looks me dead in the eye, "You know exactly what you're doing and you know exactly how it's going to turn out." He stands up, hugs me and whispers in my ear, "You're the best Sis." Then he slips out of the lab leaving the door open behind him.

"What the hell is going on?" Karai smacks my arm.

"What just happened? I'm so confused!" April looks at me then looks closer at the girl walking around on the screen. "Oh… _my_ … no way."

I can't stop smiling. "Yes, way."

"WHAT? I feel so in the dark!" Karai yells in frustration.

I grab the sides of her head and position her to look at the girl on the monitor. She watches her for a few minutes.

"No, _way_. Zoe you're a genius."

"We'll see." I shrug.

"Oh yes we will." April and Karai say together.

**Zoe**

This is my first patrol. Why they think running and leaping over rooftops is fun is beyond me. Probably because they have superhuman strength and can leap farther and higher and take falls better. But I put a stop to me and the girls participating in that shit right away.

"We are somewhere between 24 and 48 hours away from Leo deciding we're ready to go. Don says he's ready. I'm not leaping rooftops and risking an injury before the real mission I came for. So you guys go running around like monkeys. I'm going down to street level." I look over at Karai and April and they step right alongside me.

Raph rolls his eyes. "You look like bait. Go ahead."

I glare at him, "Excuse me. What the hell does that mean?"

"You look hot Z!" Mike answered before Raph could open his mouth again.

Raph smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow. What? It's true." He grinned.

I look at him and shake my head, then look down at my black yoga pants and black crop tank top. "Seriously? You guys are nuts."

Karai laughs, "No girl your muscles have muscles these days."

"Oh. How's that hot?" I take down my hair and shake it out, "Never mind, come on girls, let's go be bait."

The three of us leave the rooftop, scaling the fire escape with relative ease.

"So what are we going to do?" April asks as we venture out onto the sidewalk and walk along in a less than desirable neighborhood.

"It won't take long," Karai reaches over, smacks me on my ass and laughs.

"Girl you are so wrong." I laugh and pinch her butt.

I hear a whistle overhead and recognize Mike's catcall followed by a grunt and an 'Ow'.

I shake my head.

Karai was right though. It didn't take three blocks of our flirting to draw out some trouble from Purple Dragons. Five of them were vandalizing a car one block back and didn't think we knew they were tailing us.

"There's a little bar down here. We could get a drink." Karai suggested, pointing to a hole-in-the-wall down the next block.

"Sure, why not." I look over at April and she nods, running a hand over her yellow tank top and tugging on her denim cut offs.

"You okay April?" Karai asks her, shoving a lock of her black hair out of her dark eyes.

"I think Don would say that his spidey sense is tingling." April frowned and glance back over her shoulder.

"Oh I know they're back there, just like I know there started out to be five of them and now there's eight." I slipped my rubber band off my wrist and pulled my hair up, my way of letting Raphael know exactly what's getting ready to go down and about how long before it happens.

"Mmmm, I'm ready let's do this." Karai says glancing over her shoulder.

"Who's on first?" April asks pulling us in closer. We stop walking and I hear them coming up on us.

"Zoe you lead." Karai jabs me.

"Me, you're the one dating our leader. You lead." I jab her back.

"We should be better organized." April complained.

"Mmmm look what we have here fellas." A male voice interrupts our banter.

"Ah, we'll just have to wing it." I shake my head and we turn around as one standing casually, arms around each other.

I look them over and they are an ugly lot. Tall, short, fat, skinny, dumb, dumber, ugly, uglier, and ugliest. One thing they all have in common is drunk, lust filled eyes and a weapon of some sort on each of their persons.

"Can I help you?" I ask innocently.

The biggest one pushes the skinny one closest to me out of his way, "You can have a drink with me."

"Thank you but I'm in a relationship." I smile politely and turn to walk away.

He laughs and grabs me by my shoulder. "I wasn't asking."

I stiffen under his grasp. April and Karai step away from me. "This is me asking you nicely to take your hand off me."

He jerks me back toward him and I spin into his momentum thrusting my arm out across his throat and shoving him backward into his friend behind him. As he falls into his friend I sweep his leg and he pulls the other guy down with him.

From the ground the guy looks up at me, "Oh you're a dead bitch now." He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a knife. His companions move closer up behind him all pulling their own weapons.

"Uh, Zo, there's more than eight now." April swallows and steps into a fighting stance.

"I see that April." I keep my eyes on the guy I've pissed off. I look down at him, "Don't get up asshole."

"Zoe, _really_?" Karai shakes her head.

"I asked nicely the first time. It seems nice of me to give him another warning." I shrug, watching the guy get to his feet and leap towards me. I step out of his way and kick him in the ass as he passes me, sending him into the ground onto his face.

"You can't do Jimmy that way!" The shortest one yells.

It was like a battle-cry and they advanced on us.

Karai rolled her eyes, "You've been-" She punched the short one in the face, breaking his nose, "hanging out with Raph too much. You're starting to sound like him."

I punched my next attacker then racked him and tossed him aside, "Come on Karai, you don't want to sound like Leo, do you?"

"We _should_ be more organized." April said looking over at me, at the same time punching a short fat guy in the face. She decided he wasn't down enough and racked him too.

"You sound like Leo _and_ Donnie!" I yelled brushing off another opponent.

"Is it me or do these guys suck?" I asked landing an uppercut into the next guys jaw, then I spun around and kicked him in the side of the head.

"That was a bit much Zoe." April shook her head and executed a pressure point combo on her current attacker.

"And _that_ wasn't?" I laugh as a guy Raph's height, but nowhere, near his muscle charged me. I stop moving and watch his freight train, shoulder forward jock move, his arms reaching out for me. "What the hell is he doing?" I scratched my head and leapt out of the way before he could touch me. He ran a few more steps, growled and charged me again. "Ah, knock it off!" I yelled leaping up into the air and landing a kick to his face. It wasn't a good choice and I knew it. It didn't take advantage of his momentum and it didn't take him down. It just pissed him off. He wiped the blood from his nose and growled, charging me again. "Seriously. Go away!" This time as he got close enough I ducked low and swept his legs then attacked his torso with a vicious pressure point combination that left him semi-curled twitching in the street.

"Where are the boys?" April looked away from her attacker only a fraction of a second to talk to me before his fist landed in her temple and dropped her right next to me.

"Shit! April!" I grabbed my tessen from my utility band within my sock quickly as I dropped my next attacker with a pressure point combo at the same time. "Karai! April's down, where are the boys?"

"Right here Zo!" I heard Mike further away in the thick of the pack of Dragons.

I swiped my tessen at anyone near April, "Mike, April's down! I need back-up!"

"On it Sis!" He replied, his voice much closer than before.

"Karai where you at babe?" I slashed an attacker across his face with my fan, "Back off!" I hissed.

Donatello was airborne flying towards my head and I ducked allowing him to land behind me. Mike appeared right next to me chucks flying. Don scooped April up and disappeared as quickly as he arrived while Mike and I kept the crowd back.

"Karai! Where you at?" I glanced around me, "Mike, she was right here with me. I lost her when April went down."

Mike was airborne. God if I could get that kind of height so easily. His feet and chucks where flying, bodies falling. "Leo! Karai's missing!"

"Where's Zoe?" Raph yelled not far away.

"She's good. We're fine!" Mikey grinned at me, "Bored yet?"

I laughed, "Eh, worried about my girls but you know? Yeah, kinda. Let's end this."

Mike grinned and raised his eyeridges, "Yeah, I'm hungry."

In my banter with Mike he was thwacking idiot after idiot with his chucks. I'm executing pressure point attacks because they take the least effort on my part. I catch sight of Raph and Leo and thank goodness Karai. We each wrap up our stragglers and as the sirens sound we make our way into the alley. Raph swoops me up and ascends a fire escape and we're on a rooftop within seconds.

"Well that's efficient traveling." I giggle and he smacks me on the butt.

"Behave yourself." He warns me.

"Ow!" I yelp.

"SHHHH, we're ninjas we're supposed to be-" Leo scolds us but none of us let him finish.

"Silent!" We hiss back at him in hushed voices.

He rolls his eyes and makes his way over to Donatello and April.

April is rubbing her fingers over her forehead, "What happened?

"You took a punch to the temple." I frowned.

"You should be fine, no concussion, but you hit your head pretty hard." Donnie kissed the top of her head softly. "Come on, let's get you home."

"You okay Z?" Raph looked at me.

I looked from side to side, then glanced over myself, "Yeah why?"

He shook his head and looked me over, "I don't know. Something's… off."

I shrugged, "I feel fine. Maybe you're just getting some vibes off me from the fight." It's an adjustment to anyone's life to be able to feel someone else's emotions. Maybe he was just picking up the extra adrenalin and satisfaction I felt from the fight. But he didn't look convinced.

"Maybe," He scooped me up again, "Come on, let's go home."


	11. Chapter 11

**Gardiner Island, New York**

**Shelton Research Campus**

**48 Hours Later**

"Zoë, what the hell are you doin?" Raphael snaps at me for what seems like the fiftieth time since we arrived outside the campus perimeter.

I roll my eyes and smile at Donatello who nods at me, "You should be good to go Zoe."

I tuck my earbuds in and strap on my bracelet com, "I'm going out, check in soon." I wink at him and slip out of the van, Raph hot on my tail.

His mouth's flapping and I'm holding up a finger to get him to wait.

"Can you hear me Don?"

"Loud and clear Zoe, you're good to go." I hear Donatello in my earbuds and nod my head.

"Leo?" I check in with our leader who's waiting for us by the fence covered trees five hundred feet away.

"Loud and clear Zoe," He answers me.

Raphael yanks an earbud out of my ear, "You can't be serious! You're going to listen to music while we fight?"

I roll my eyes and yank my earbud back, "I've gotten approval from our Fearless leader, thank you. Tell him Leo."

"She's clear Raph. She's says it keeps her calm and focused. She can hear us we can hear her, she's fine."

"Yeah, Raph, it's like me with water balloons and Don with a science project thingy." Mike chirps over the com, from the safety of the van.

Raphael growls, "What the hell are you listening to and how are you supposed to hear someone come up on you?"

"I don't plan on hearing them love. I will sense them first. And I'm listening to some oldies but goodies…"

Michelangelo is snickering into the com.

"Knock it off Mike, we can hear you." Raph smacks the back of the van and the whole thing rocks.

"Hey!" Donatello protests.

"You guys are making too much noise. Get ready to get to work." Leo reprimands us.

"What _is_ on your playlist?" April asks into the com from inside the van.

I grin, "DMX, Ruff Ryders Anthem, B.I.G. Hypnotize, Lady Gaga Do What U Want, 23 Mike Will Made It, Foster the People Pumped Up Kicks, Lorde Team, Kesha Die Young, LMFAO Party Rock Anthem… sometimes I'll get in the mood for a certain song and just set it to replay. But I like to fight to these. I keep Superhero for training," I glance at Raph, "it pisses off my partner."

He rolls his eyes.

"Zo, is Do What U Want really a good song choice? Since one point of us being here is because you didn't want anyone to do what they wanted with your body?" Mike asks in his innocent voice from inside the van.

Raph growls and punches the van causing the whole thing to shake again. "Get out here before I come in there and kick your ass!"

"Whoa, I'm not coming out if you're gonna-" Mike protested.

"Quit hitting the van Raph, you're messing with my reception and I'm hacking here." Donatello said coolly.

I put my hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow, "You gonna be this intense the whole night?"

He glared at me, "You gonna be this- this-" He clenched his teeth, "Knock it off Zoe and yes. Something is off about you."

I sigh and stick my earbuds back in and hit play. I knock twice on the back of the van and Mike bounds out to stand beside me. We glance at Raph expectantly.

He shakes his head and motions for us to follow him.

"Alright Leo we're on the move. Coming your way," Raph whispers.

Donatello has fitted all of us with trackers and coms. The guys have very discreet trackers and coms fixed just under the ridge of their carapace.

"Karai and I are ready for you here. Are we up Donnie?" Leo calls back.

"We're up, cameras are on a loop, I can see you but they only see the loop feed. April turn that, now we'll have audio too. Thanks. Okay, guys it looks pretty quiet. You have one guard with a dog coming your way. Zoe you ready?"

I look at Raph and he holds out a hand, I step into it and he boosts me up so I can get to the top of a giant oak tree just outside Leo's location. He probably could've just tossed me up here and he kind of did with the airtime I had. I caught the first branch I saw and kipped to the next one above it. Once I was satisfied with my height I edged my way toward the fence line brushing up against the tree. I pull forth my bow and one of the arrows Donnie had fitted with tranquilizer capsules for me. I scan the yard and spy my first targets. Doggie first… sorry lil guy. Breathe. In. Exhale. Release. The dog yelped and looked back at his hind leg before falling over. The guard, a wolf hybrid looking guy looked down at him then stood up and scanned the yard. Second arrow… exhale… release. The hybrid caught the arrow and I released a third into his neck. He hit the ground before his hand could reach up for it.

"Nice job Zo." Mike chirped.

"Mike if you don't shut up." Raph growled.

"Stop Raph. Leo, are you sure you don't want Raph? He's all fired up." I whispered, maintaining my perch and scanning the yard.

"All of you stop. We need to focus. Don, how's it look?" Leo's voice filled my head.

"Clear to move in. There are three more guards on the perimeter but they haven't seen the down guy yet."

"Zoe, get down here." Raph snapped.

"Calm down Big Guy, I'm scoping the yard. I'll be there in a second."

"Don says it's clear. Get down here."

I descend the tree quickly flipping off the last branch and landing next to Mike who smiles at me and we bump knuckles.

"Knock it off." Raph shoved Mike.

"Sorry." I frowned at Mike and he smiled at me anyway.

We followed Raph silently, the rest of the short distance, to meet up with Leo and Karai.

"Where we at here?" Raph asked Leo, examining the fence.

"Clipped and ready. Don, we're going in. Alright team, follow me." Leo grabbed the top corner where he and Karai had cut the fence and pulled it back for us to step through.

The five of us crept across the yard keeping out of the light of the strobe that circled it. We made it quickly up to the side of the building, moving along the shadows. "Raph and Mike, can you go tie up our uh- sleepers?" Leo motioned to the two of them and they moved quickly to the center of the yard and drug the dog and wolf hybrid over by us. Raph and Mike tied up both the hybrid and the dog at the hands and feet in less than a minute.

Leo motioned for us to follow him.

"Zoe, stop it." Raph hissed at me.

"What now?" I looked at him with wide clueless eyes.

"You're dancing. Leo, this is ridiculous." He shook his head at me and looked to his brother for help.

Mike grinned and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled back at him.

Leo ignored all of us, "Okay, Zoe you ready?"

We followed Leo to my entry point, a basement window right next to a walkout office door. I nod and moved to the front, knelt down and reached out for the glass cutting tool he held out to me. I removed a circle of glass, slipped my hand in and unlocked the window. "Don, are the alarms off on the windows and doors?" I asked as my fingers found the latch.

"You're good to go Zoe."

I looked up at Leo nodded, flipped the lock, lowered the window and slid inside. I landed in a crouch on the floor and scanned my surroundings. It was dark, the only light coming from the hallway.

"Open the door Zoe, Raph's having a fit." Leo's voice filled my head.

It was a small room with only the outside exit door, the room entry door, a desk covered in mountains of papers, and a computer. The only other furniture in the room was a dark bookshelf on the wall by the entry door.

"Zoe, the door," Leo repeated.

I stood up and move quietly to the door, unlocked and opened it. Raph was in before Leo, snatching me up and pinning me against the wall by the desk, "Faster Zoe. Quit messin' around. I'm serious. You're pissing me off."

I looked in his guarded eyes and knew he was worried. Something was eating him, beyond us being in the place that threatened to take me from him. _As if that isn't reason enough. I'm not making this process any easier for you, I know. But I'm actually trying to cope..._ Reluctantly I nod and he sets me down.

"Enough Raph, let's go." Leo crept up to the door. "It's about to get a little hot here guys. Don, you ready?"

"Cutting the hall lights. You guys are heading out into the hall and to your left. At the end of the hall are stairs. Up to the third floor out the door to your right. Her dorm is the fifth down on the left. And, go."

The lights went out in the hall and we followed Leo to the end of it. At the bottom of the stairs, he reached for the knob but it didn't open, "Lock Donnie?"

"Sorry, try it now."

Leo opened the door and pointed to Karai, "You're on lookout here."

She nodded.

He motioned to us and we ascended the three flights in under a minute. "Third floor Don, lights and locks please."

The lights went out in the hall and Leo opened the door. "I'm staying here. I can see you guys from here until you enter her dorm. Raph, Zoe's leading. Exodus knows her. She goes in first."

Raph shook his head, "I don't like it."

"We don't have time to discuss it again. Go." Leo pointed to me and before Raph could argue I was making my way down the hall, Mike right behind me.

I could hear Raph growl and catch up quickly.

"Door lock Donnie?"

"You're good to go Zoe."

I looked back at Raph and Mike and they nod. I reach out for the silver knob and turned it, pushing it open and slipping inside.

There were eight bunks in the room, four on each side. Exodus should be in the last bunk on the bottom, left hand side, near the window. Only this room was very dark, no light shone through the window. And as I listened I realized from the lack of breath sounds that there were no bodies in the bunks, but there was a fair blonde haired girl cowering the corner of the room.

"Exodus?"

"Zzzzzoe?" She answered me, peeking out from behind the protection of her own arms.

"Where are the other hybrids?"

"Uh- you shouldn't have come here." She pulled her arm back up over her face.

"Shhh, come on, I'm getting you out of here." I took a step towards her and felt something hit me in the neck. Everything grew dark and the floor seemed to fly up to my face.

**Raphael**

"What the hell, this is taking too long." I fidget and resist the urge to throw open the door, beat down everyone in there, snatch up Zoe and the girl and get the hell out of here.

I've got a bad feeling about this and there's something going on with Zoe. I don't know what it is, but she's seems oblivious to it and that pisses me off. This connection thing has got me tuned into her like she's a part of my body. I'm surprised I can't feel her breathe she's so close to me now.

"It's been too long Leo." I wrap my hand around the doorknob, "How's it look in there Donatello?"

"I'm with you Raph. I saw Zoe go in and stand in the center of the room. I'm concerned because it looks like that's what she's still doing. She's not moving. Leo-"

"Move in guys, we're on Raph. I'm coming up right behind you. Karai how's it look down there?"

"I'm coming to you Leo. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"I'm going in." I fling open the door and storm in ready to pummel whatever's in my way, only there's not a damn thing anywhere. Except for a girl cowering in the corner of the room.

"Mike-" I motion him to the girl, while I look around. There's no sign of Zoe anywhere and what's worse, I can't feel her. _Shit._

Mike crosses the room and kneels down before the girl. "Hey, I won't hurt you. Zoe sent us, are you okay?"

"Fffffine. They tttttoook her. You should go, get out wwwwhile you can." She stammered.

"Are you Exodus?" Mike asked, reaching out a hand to her.

"Yyyyeah," She looked up at him her blue eyes shining.

"I'm Mike, come on. Let's get you out of here." He helped her off the floor and she looked around.

I all but knock the girl over, jabbing my finger in her chest. "Where's Zoë?"

"Darius took her." The girl whispered, sliding her hand down her back.

"You don't need a knife. You need to help me find Zoe." I shake my head and point to her arm.

"There's a passage here. Darius can get to any of our rooms through passages. He won't kill her. He needs her." Exodus walks over to her bed and pushes it toward the bed to the left of it, revealing a stairwell beneath it. "There's handles on the bottom of my bed so he can just move it, it's on wheels, see?"

"Are you kidding me? I don't care. Where's Zoe?" I step towards the dark descending stairwell as Leo rushes into the room.

"Mike get Karai and Exodus out of here, we'll meet up with you when we have Zoe. We'll stay on radio with Don's surveillance. If we need back up, you two come back. Leave the girls in the van."

Karai stands in the doorway, "Why, because we're girls?"

Exodus looks at Karai, "Exactly. Girls, human girls, are perfect test subjects here. Get out while you can."

"I'm not afraid to die," Karai hissed, "and I'm not leaving Zoe behind."

"They won't kill you, but you'll wish you were dead." Exodus tucked a blond lock behind her ear and looked at Mike curiously.

"Enough. Karai, you and Mike get Exodus out. Confirm when you've made it to the van. Move. The longer we take, the farther away from us Zoe gets. MOVE!" Leo pointed to the three and they disappeared back into the hall.

"Raph, let's go."

Zoe's earbuds, shuffle, com bracelet and twin tessen are on the floor by the stairwell. As I pick up her weapons I'm hit with a familiar image of her, one from our past...

"RAPH!"

As the Zoë puzzle pieces click in place, my heart clenches into a knot so painful I can barely breathe. I finally know what it is that's off about Zoe. I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner. She's glowing, beautiful as ever, only there's a sparkle in her eyes, she's fit, lean muscle and yet there's a distinct raise over her abdomen… _Our worst fears are coming true._

"RAPH!"

I look at my brother.

"Zoe's pregnant Leo."

**Michelangelo**

I'm worried about Zoe, don't get me wrong. I want my sister back. But her friend is HHHHHOOOOTTTT! I'm pumped that I get to get her out of this place. I take her hand and keep her close.

Karai is quick and we're down the stairs, then the hall and out the backdoor. We're almost across the yard and to our exit when Don's voice fills my head.

"You've got incoming Mike, on your left… and your right… shit their everywhere. Hang on I'm coming to you little brother."

I look around me. Karai unsheathes her katana and adopts a fighting stance, her back to mine. Exodus is trembling and I don't know if she's going to be any help.

"Hey, you throw knives right?" I ask her gently as I pull my chucks.

"Yyyyeah, but I don't fight unless the occasion calls for it."

"Trust me, it calls for it. Help a guy out okay?" I smile at her and her eyes light up. She nods at me and as fifty some-odd hybrids ascend on us, knives are flying and I'm wondering where she was keeping'em.

"YEAH!" I laugh and set to work.

**Zoe**

I open my eyes and squint against the harsh light beaming above me. "What the hell?" I try to move and realize I'm strapped down to a table and there's something cold lathered over my abdomen. The room comes into focus and I see Stockman performing an ultrasound while laughing hysterically.

"Welcome home Zoe. I must admit I am surprised that you came back to us on your own."

"Fuck you Stockman." I spit at him.

"Now, now Zoe. Have you forgotten your manners?" Darius leans over me and I feel the blood drain from my face.

"What's wrong Zoe? You had to know I've been waiting for you. Or did you forget your sister is psychic?" His crystal blue eyes glistened with joy. His thin lips spread into a disgusting smile showing his teeth. He points a finger at me, hovering it over my eye and moving it down the length of my body. "I'm very _VERY_ disappointed in you Zoe."

I swallow, and bite my lip to keep it from trembling. I did forget. _What was I thinking?_ She was still dead somewhere in my mind, I guess.

"You didn't come alone… and you're not pure. In fact you're carrying a passenger."

My heart is racing. I can barely hear his voice over the sound of blood roaring in my ears. _What is he talking about?_ His hovering finger jabs me in my abdomen. _Oh, no. No. NO._ I try to lift my head but it too is strapped down. I try to move my hands, my ankles, everything is strapped down.

"Nnnoo." I stammer. My own voice sounds foreign to me. _What did I do? How did I not know this?_

"Oh, yes. Very much yes, in fact. The question is… _what_ have you attached yourself to? You reek of a male," He sniffs my neck and jabs his fingers over Raphael's bite mark, "and he's branded you." He smacks me across my face and I blink back the tears that rush to my eyes. "Human's don't do this Zoe. This bite is too big for that. This thing," He jabs my abdomen again and I feel a tear slide down my cheek. _No. Please no._ "Is even less human than you are." He looks over at Stockman, "Well is it worth keeping or should we terminate it?"

 _No. God. No. What did I do? Raphael please._ I close my eyes and try to focus. _Raphael, please find me. Please. Hurry. I'm scared. Please._

"Oh it's worth letting her give birth to it. If not only to study it."

_RAPHAEL PLEASE!_

"Are you bonded to this thing Zoe?" Darius smacks me again and I feel his ring slice open my cheek.

I try not to make a sound.

"Can he feel your pain?" Darius hisses, unbuckling the strap over my head.

I glare at him, "You don't want anything to do with what's coming for you and should I get off this table before he gets here, I will end you." I slip my fingers inside the edges of my long sleeve shirt and inch out one of the daggers I have strapped to my wrists.

Darius runs a hand through his black hair, "You know Zoe, I think you mean that. But see, you don't have it in you." He unbuckles my chest strap.

"Why don't you let me off this table like the dumb fuck you are and let's find out what I'm capable of?"

I hear a shrill female laugh and my sister's face appears over me now. "You are disgusting Zoe. What have you done?"

I search her face and she may as well have been a stranger _. She's lost to me, I'll never get her back._

"Fuck off Zaire." I spit at her.

She backhands me across my other cheek and I feel Darius unbuckle my feet. _You really are an arrogant son-of-a-bitch._

"ZOE!" I hear Raphael scream as he storms the room.

_So much for ninja stealth._

My heart is racing as I finish cutting through the binding on my wrist and with one free hand and two free legs I pop up on the table and slice through the my last wrist binding before landing a kick straight to the back of my sisters head.

Now free to move I run to the end of the table and flip off of it. As I land in a fighting stance I face Darius, Stockman and Zaire.

Leo appears behind Stockman. Darius has zoned in on Raphael who is destroying everything in his path on his way to him.

Darius whistles as if he's impressed. "Zoe, your mate is an amazing specimen, that baby is worth keeping for sure." He unsheathes his katana and moves to attack Raphael. "Too bad Daddy won't be sticking around though."

"We'll see about that." Raph snarls as the two lock in combat.

Stockman takes one look at Leo and runs. Leo doesn't pursue him, I feel his eyes on me, "Zoe?"

I don't look away from Zaire. _I'm about to be faced with killing you again Sister, aren't I?_ A great weight encompasses my body.

"Help Raphael, Leo. And make sure that fucker is dead."

"But, you're-"

"I've got this Leo. Kill him."

Zaire grinned at me, advancing in eerie, jerky movements. _Ignore that. It's just a distraction_. My eyes fix on hers as she unsheathes her katana and lunges at me.

_She'll kill me._

I dodge her attack and scan the room for a weapon. I see my bow and arrows on the floor by the door Raph and Leo came in. _Too far. Where are my tessen? Shit, she's coming at me again._ I flip out of the way and spy a table of surgical tools. _If I can distract her and disarm her, maybe get her weapon…I can't hesitate, she won't._

I grab a handful of scalpels and throw them at various areas of her body. She catches the first one in her free hand and glares at me. "You're stupid Zoe."

_I have to protect my baby._

"Is that the best you can come up with Zaire?" I launch three more scalpels, one at her head, it slides by grazing her ear, another at her leg and it lands in her thigh, and the last one I throw directly at her katana holding hand. The various areas of pain stinging through her distracts her enough that she releases the weapon. _There's my window._ I move with cheetah speed straight into her, kicking the weapon further away and executing a pressure point kill.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you Sister."

Zaire's face twists in shock and confusion, her eyes dart wildly before her pupils shrink and she falls over.

I realize now that Leo has been watching over me throughout my entire ordeal with Zaïre.

"I told you to help Raph."

Leo gave me a sad smile, "Does it look like he needs help?"

I can hear bodies slamming behind me. I turn to see Raph is pummeling Darius, Darius is pummeling Raph, Raph disarms Darius with his sai, Raph is stabbing Darius with his sai, Darius is trying to strike Raph across his shell without a weapon. Raph lifts Darius over his head and snaps his spine across his knee then flings him into the brick wall to his right. I think he was dead before the spine snapping. It seemed to be fury aftershocks or good measure, either way he was dead.

I look at Leo, "No, but did it look like I did?"

"No, but you should know, if you hadn't I would've. She was dead either way Zoë." He put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

Donatello, Michelangelo and a small army of hybrids suddenly flood through the door filling the room.

I looked at them and stepped back into a fighting stance while trying to figure out why they seemed to be entering together and not being chased…

"It's alright. It's okay, Zoe, it's okay. At ease Killer." Mike waved at me and I reluctantly dropped my stance.

"What's going on Mike?"

"Donnie broke their collars and I just talked to them. When they realized I was trying to free Exodus and that the collars didn't work anymore they wanted to help." Mike grinned.

"Zoe, are you okay?" Raph kicked Darius' body and made his way to me.

I nodded slowly and felt the tears slip down my cheeks, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

He pulled me into a hug, 'Let's go home Z."


	12. Chapter 12

**The Farmhouse**

**48 Hours Later**

**Exodus**

I have not slept this well before, ever. I fell asleep in the van on the way to their sewer lair, that first night, leaning on Michelangelo. And if sleeping in a van doesn't sound comfortable, it isn't, yet I woke feeling safe for the first time in my life and in turn I felt well rested. At first I had dismissed it as exhaustion. But I'm starting to think its the presence of these warriors.

I like Michelangelo's smile and the kindness in his eyes. His brothers seem nice too. Except I think Zoe's mate is crazy. He was holding her to him like she might disappear that night, and they were both covered in blood but it didn't seem to bother them.

When we made the journey to the farmhouse, Mike offered to let me sleep in his bed since there were no more rooms. He said he'd sleep on the floor but it's only my second night ever away from the lab, so I asked him to just lay there next to me. He had bounced onto the bed, and propped his head on his pillow with this massive smile on his face.

I open my eyes now and look over to where he's still sleeping, only since he's a ninja too, he opens his eyes the second I move.

"Hi. You hungry?" He chirps.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" I smile at him.

"Cas I'm hungry. C'mon I think there's some pizza in the fridge. Do you like pizza? I mean I don't know anyone who doesn't, but it's cool if you don't, cas you know more for moi'." He's pulling me from the bed and leading me down the stairs to the kitchen.

The house is dark and he doesn't turn on any lights. I don't see that well in the dark so I hold onto his hand. He only has two fingers and a thumb but the way he uses his hands is amazing. I've never seen anyone with his level of nunchuk skill.

"Uh- X, do you want your pizza cold or hot?"

"Who cares, however you're eating it works for me." I smile and he hands me a slice.

"Keep it down. You'll wake Anton and if that happens you're watching him." Zoe's scary mate, Raphael, storms between us and grabs two slices from the box. He slaps them on a napkin and pops them in the microwave.

I step closer to Mike and he smiles. "Don't be scared of Raph. He's just sore cause I'm better lookin' than he is."

"You're an idiot." Raph pulls the pizza out of the microwave, weaves around me and grabs two Coke's from the fridge then makes his way out the back door.

"Where's he going?" I ask, watching him leave.

"The barn slash dojo. He and Zoe have some stuff to talk about."

"Why are you grinning like that? You look so perfectly happy."

He looks away from the back door, shoves another bite of pizza in his mouth and nods.

"I am perfectly happy, my whole families here, I get to be an uncle again and I met you."

**Zoe**

I'm lying on our favorite red blanket staring at the cracks between the boards in the ceiling of the barn. The moonlight peeks through them, gracing the dojo with perfect beams of soft light over all of our equipment, splashing over the blanket and my face. It's soothing.

Raph hasn't said much to me since we left the lab. I'm not sure if he's mad or worried or overwhelmed... _He's probably all three._ I'm not trying to read him. He'll talk when he's ready. He always does.

A breeze flutters over my skin, raising tiny goosebumps over my arms. A brighter light illuminates the door where Raph has slipped in. I sit up, wrapping myself in the blanket to take the chill off. He hands me a slice of pizza and a Coke as he sits down next to me.

We eat without conversation, then sit next to each other in an uneasy silence. He's looking at me and I'm staring at the mat.

"How's the cheek?" He asks finally.

"Fine." I run my fingers over the wound that Donatello glued shut. It stung like a bitch. He didn't numb it and the glue hurt worse than getting hit did. Then he'd taped it over with butterfly stitches to make sure it stayed closed.

"Zoe, why didn't you say anythin?"

It feels like he's bordering on mad, possibly livid, definitely disappointed, and probably confused. _Maybe I should read into him, just a little, for clarity..._ I reach for him internally, brush just the surface of his emotions, feel like I've been slapped, and back away from them quickly. _Okay, not doing that again._

 _I'll just keep my eyes on the mat._ "Are you talking about the baby?" _I fucked up royally and I know it._

"What else would I be talkin' about?" His voice bites into me.

_He's leaning toward livid now._

"Do you think I did it on purpose?" _Could I just lift up the mat and crawl underneath it?_

"I dunno did ya?"

_Ouch. Don't dance around it Raph, go for the kill._

I pry my eyes from the floor and look at the scowl on his face, his green eyes are narrowed slits as tries to sort through his emotions.

 _I've done some stupid things but this, this is bad._ "I didn't know Raph."

"How could you _not_ know Zoe, it's not like it's your first!" He gets to his feet and starts pacing.

"I haven't been paying attention to my body and it's been changing under all of the training. And it's different than it was with Anton. I'm not nauseous, I'm not exhausted, I'm not even crazy moody. It's different."

"How could _you_ not know and _I_ did!" He stood over me and I wanted to pull the blanket over my head.

"You were more in tune with me that I was with myself. I was just focused on the mission." I looked up at him to see just how mad he was and I wanted to cry. He wasn't just mad, he was hurt and I hated seeing that on him more than anything.

He leaned over and lifted me off the ground, the blanket falling away to the floor. He held me at his eye level the way he does when he's determined to make his point. His eyes searched me for answers. Answers I just didn't have.

"Is this really necessary?" I manage to ask him, resigning myself to whatever he's decided to do with me.

He growls and sets me down.

I sink back to my spot on the floor and wrap the blanket around me again.

He resumes pacing and I lay down and put my head on one of the pillows we brought out. "Come over here and talk to me."

"Zoe, you could've-" He shook his head, "it was bad enough you put yourself in danger. But you put our baby in danger too."

I feel the tears slipping down my cheeks. My body shudders and I curl around myself, seeking comfort from the reliable red blanket but finding even it lacking. _I'm so sorry._

I hear him sigh and watch as he rubs his hand over his eyes. He looks down at me, then comes to sit beside me again and pulls me to him.

"I'm so sorry. I would never. I really didn't know." I lean my head against his plastron and my body shivers beneath the weight of all that has happened. "I was so scared. I've never been so scared."

He made an irritated sound and pulled me tighter, resting his chin on my head. "I know. It's how I found you. I could feel you screamin for me." He pulled me back and lifted my chin so he could look in my eyes, "I was scared too Zoe. I can't lose you. I just can't."

"I'm sorry. I just, the things they were saying. I couldn't move, it was everything you were worried about and it was happening and it was my fault."

"It's over Zoe. They'll never hurt anyone ever again and all of those hybrids are free."

Then he laughed for the first time in four days and I was intrigued.

"What is it?"

"You knew she was the perfect match for Mike before you decided to go get her. Didn't you?" He studied my face.

"Maybe," I smiled.

"Zoe, did you go back to free her or to bring Mike someone to love?"

"A little of both Raphael, honestly, a little of both." I pulled his arms even tighter around me and leaned into his plastron.


	13. Chapter 13

**EPILOGUE**

**Zoe**

**1 Year Later**

"So what are ya listening to tonight Zo?" Mike asks as he wraps his arm around Exodus and she leans against him.

"Do tell Zoe!" Exodus adjusts her own playlist and grins at me, her blue eyes sparkling.

"Die Young, how about you X?"

"Hmmm Party Rock Anthem," She flashes Mike a brilliant smile and he nods his approval.

"You're both ridiculous." Raph shakes his head, "This isn't a stealth mission. These are street fights. You need to hear your enemies. We go over this again and again."

"Raph?" I stick my earbuds in and point to my ears then hold up my hands.

He clenches his teeth and shakes his head.

"Girls, you ready?" I look at my friends.

April and Karai stick in their earbuds and wink at Raph.

"Bad influence that one of yours Raph." Donnie shakes his head.

"We can hear you Don. You hooked us up remember? You're kinda lookin a little hypocritical right now." April adjusted the volume on her shuffle and tucked it into her armband.

"Well do we look like bait or what?" Karai asks running her fingers through her short black hair.'

I survey my girls. Karai in her solid black hot shorts and silk tank top, couldn't resist adding a hint of Leo's blue to her outfit and had blue sapphire studs in her ears. She'd replaced her red and blond highlights with electric blue and her eyeshadow matched it.

Exodus is head over heels for Mike. She's got her beautiful waist length blonde hair up in a ponytail tied with a cheerful orange bandana. She's sporting denim cutoffs that leave little for the imagination, with a Tinkerbell cut-off t shirt baring her midriff.

April loves her yellow but lately she too feels compelled to wear her favorite turtles color. Tonight she's wearing a yellow minidress with a pair of purple boyshort undies underneath. She's planning on getting in a fight so I'm not sure why the dress, it's not my usual style… well not usually. The undies are more for Donnie later. We all got ready together so I encouraged the purple undies… Don will go nuts. She's cut her hair to a chin length bob and she's so damn cute she wears it well. She's wearing yellow flat ballet slippers so we'll see how that pans out for her when it comes time to kick ass.

"You three are definitely bait," I grin.

"Look at _you_! You don't even look like you've had one baby let alone two! How do you do that?" April points to me, her eyes wide.

"Why, April? Is there something we need to discuss?" I put my arm around her and watch her blush.

"WWWWhhhat?" Donnie chokes.

"Relax Donatello. I'm not talking to you."

"You. Cool it. You're on fire tonight." Raph pulls me away from April and yanks me to the side away from the group, tugging my earbud out of my ear. "I'm serious. It's your first night back and you're acting like you never left."

"Oh, you sound so Leo these days. What happened to my hotheaded love huh? You used to be fun. Now you're all, blah, blah, blah. BORING!"

"I'm trying to keep my student in line. And looking the way you do-" He steps back and I feel his eyes raking over my body.

I look at me too. I'm as tone as ever. Having Andrea was a piece of cake and major surprise. She looks human. Donatello is still trying to figure that out, but the early hunch is that our males will be turtles and our females human. Time will tell as the others have kids of their own. For now I want to have some fun. I tilt my head and look at my outfit, I chose a red camisole slip-dress and it hugs every curve on my body. I don't usually opt for a dress but since we're going to a club and I don't wear much besides my yoga attire I thought what the hell. I'm wearing black boyshort undies, a girl's got to cover her stuff if she gets in a fight. At least it's tight but flexible, there's nothing to inhibit movement or get in my way. My hair is loose but I'm wearing a rubber band on my wrist, just in case. I opted for tight fitting red walking sneakers. I probably hint at a little bit of cheerleader right now but I'm fine with that. I can get in a club and still kick ass.

"Uh, Raph- you stopped talking and I'm ready to go."

He grinned wickedly, "Mmmm me too." He ran his hands over my ass and inched his fingers under the hem running them along my panty line.

"Ugh stop! How many kids are you two going to have?!" Exodus groaned and Mike laughed.

"At their rate, one every nine months," Donnie added.

Raph growled but leaned down and pulled me in to a knee buckling kiss.

"STOP already! I'm ready to PAARRRTAAY!" Exodus jumped up and down and Mike laughed at her.

"Okay, okay X, light partying in the city. The real parties happen at the swimming hole at home. We'll do that when we get back." Mike winked at me.

The girls want to go to a club… well Exodus wants to and since I know what it's like to want to experience everything for the first time, I agreed. The guys are supposed to go kick a little ass and meet up with us later. But I know they won't go far.

"All right Bait, let's go." I glance at Donnie, "We're on com?"

"Good to go Zoe." He nods and kisses April quickly on the cheek.

"Fearless, what do you have planned for this evening?" I ask Leo, as Karai links her arm through mine.

"Keeping an eye on the four of you," The four of them answer at the same time.

We all wave them off and make our descent down the fire escape.

As we hit the ground I shut off my shuffle and motion for the girls to do the same.

"What's up Zoe?" April asks, reluctant to cut off her connection with Donatello.

"It's just for a minute" I say and she finally does it. I look at the girls, "I want to have fun tonight and as long as Raph gets to beat someone up, he'll have fun too. But Mike's right. This isn't a party to them. They have to stay hidden. I say we make the most of tonight and head home tomorrow and have a party the guys can enjoy with us. They deserve it."

"Agreed," April nods.

"Hell yes," Karai's thin mouth spreads into a mischievous grin.

"I'm down for all parties Z." Exodus bounces.

"Alright coms back on and is everyone armed?" We all turn our shuffles back on.

"Don't do that again Zoe or I will cancel your night." Raph snaps immediately into my ear.

"Chill out Big Guy, it's not like you can't see us." I flick him off and Mike laughs.

"Knock it off." He growls.

"Ah, go find somebody to beat up." I roll my eyes and look at my girls. "Weapons, ladies?"

April inches up her miniskirt to reveal a hidden tessen attached by a garter belt to her thigh, "Oooo Donatello, what you are missing."

We all laugh.

"What ya got X?"

Exodus lifts up the back of her shirt and has knives hidden in her bra straps, on her thigh and another on her ankle, "Yikes Mikey, watch your fingers later."

Exodus winks at me.

"Karai?" I tilt me head in the direction of my Yin-Yang twin.

"Ha, as if you have to ask… but this is kinda fun." She looks up to the rooftop behind us and I catch a glimpse of the four of them perched, bandanas flying in the shadows. "My best weapon is on that rooftop, but tonight I'm with you tessen and dagger girls." She has a tessen in her waistband and a dagger around her thigh.

"Alright I'm pretty sure Leo's getting laid tonight based on that comment."

"Hey, stick to business ladies." Leo's voice cracks into our earbuds.

"Ah, come on Fearless." I reach over and smack Karai's ass and she pinches mine.

"Seriously you two are bad." Mikey quips.

"Come on Zoe, what're you carrying tonight?" Exodus looks over my dress, "as if there's room for anything else in that sleeve your wearing."

"New and old toys for me tonight ladies," I hold up my hand and am wearing a garnet ring on my right hand. I flip up the jewel to reveal a powder substance inside it. I close it quickly, careful not to disturb it. "Sleeping powder." I inch up the skirt of my dress and reveal a dagger and tessen both tucked into a red lace garter belt.

"HOT Z, smokin'! Ow. Hey!" I hear Mike hoot and then yelp.

I roll my eyes, "Come on girls let's do this, before Raph changes his mind and drags me away."

"You can say that again." He grumbles.

I shake my head and press play. We're four blocks from our club and it's not the worst neighborhood. We want to have fun, a work out is just a bonus.

**10 Minutes Later**

We step in line to go in the club and are waved to the front and let inside.

"Turn on your camera's girls." I hear Leo say.

"Uh, no. We're big girls and it's not like you four are coming in here. We'll see you in a couple hours."

"Zoe."

"Raphael."

"Be careful."

"Always."

**3 Hours Later**

The club wasn't bad. The four of us stuck together and danced for hours. We each had four shots of bourbon and were now slipping back outside with our heads a little lighter than when we went in.

"That was awesome!" Exodus bounced alongside me.

"Glad you liked it." April said as she walked next to X.

"You girls are a lot of fun," Karai said from my other side, her eyes scanning rooftops and alleyways dutifully as we walked.

"Yeah the whole crowd thing is getting a little easier." I watch a couple hail a cab and another guy open a car door for his girlfriend. It's three AM and there's a turn happening at the club. I don't see anything that could present a problem but it's the right time of night for it and we are four girls walking alone. My guard stays up these days. Like many other things it has been instilled upon me.

"Hey Red, did you sit in a pile of sugar?" A creepy male voice says from behind us.

April and I look at each other and turn around.

"I'm sorry, which one of us are you talking to?" I ask as I size the guy up. He's not alone. He has three other guys with him.

"You," He grins at me and my stomach turns. He's not bad looking but the purple dragon tattoo is peeking out from beneath the sleeve of his tight white t-shirt.

I raise an auburn eyebrow, "and why do you ask if I sat in a pile of sugar?"

He licks his lips and I feel my blood start to simmer, "Because you have a sweet ass."

"Really?" I glance back at my assets then over to Karai.

She grins evilly and nods, "Yeah, you do Zo."

I put my arm around her, "Well Baby as long as you like it that's all that matters."

We lean our heads against each other and smile at the sugar man.

"Oh, are you two _together_?" His eyes light up and I want to hit him.

We laugh. "Sometimes." Karai teases him and I hear Leo choking in my earbud.

"I'm going to take your comment about my uh, assets, as a compliment. So thanks and have a nice night." I smile at him politely and look at my girls, "You ready to head home ladies?"

But as I turn around to walk away he reaches down and grabs my ass.

"Oh, no," I hear April and Exodus gasp.

I spin around and kick the guy in the chest sending him flying backward into his friend, "Not yours to touch." I growl standing over him. I look at his friends who are trying to decide what to do next.

The man's face turns cherry red and he gets to his feet. "You're a bitch."

"Thank you, at last a real compliment. Now, keep your hands to yourself."

"Uh, Zzzoe..." I hear Exodus stammer.

I don't take my eyes off the handsy sugar guy.

"We're surrounded." April finishes for her.

"Can't a girl go out for one night and not get harassed?" I glance around me and see there are guys right up behind me.

"You should walk away. Really. Please, walk away." April says stepping a little closer to Exodus because there's a guy on three sides of her.

"Haha, what, are you four little girls going to take on all of us?" The handsy guy steps closer to me, reaches down and tries to grab my breast.

I block his hand with my left arm while pressing play on my shuffle with my right hand. He swipes at me again and I block him again as I grab my rubber band and pull my hair up. He grabs again while both my hands are occupied and his fingers touch my breast. I shake my head, "I'm sorry for how this will end for you." I sniff, tighten my rubber band and reach forward to tap two pressure points on his torso and he sinks to the ground.

_And. Its. On._

My three friends pull their weapons.

"That's a lot of Purple Dragons girls, we're coming in."

"That's probably a good idea Leo, thanks." I say as I elbow the guy to my left in the face, spin around and rack the guy behind me.

_"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums. Oh what a shame…"_

I'm dancing a bit in between punches and pressure point attacks.

_"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young"_

I see Raphael plowing his way through the bodies between me and him. He punches a guy over my shoulder and grabs two more, smacking their heads together. I step to his right as he punches another guy behind me and I uppercut and spin kick my next attacker.

I spy Mike to my left fighting alongside Exodus like they've been doing it forever. They've been sparring together and have a similar fighting style, which includes laughing and goofing off. Like they are right now, in between Exodus flinging knives as fast as Mike can spin his chucks.

Raph smashes two more bodies together and yells at me. "Zoe your open. Pay attention!"

I duck as a fist flies at my head. I spin around and kick my attacker in the stomach then execute a pressure point attack on the guy right next to him. Someone gets a kick into my side but the adrenalins high and it just feels like I got shoved. He comes at me again with a knife and I reach for my tessen. Right as I move to block him Raph disarms the guy with his sai, then Raph's fist smashes his face.

Somehow I've worked my way up to the side of the building and now my backs against a wall. Of course Raphael is destroying bodies everywhere around me. I glance past Mike and Exodus and see Leo and Karai. Is she using one of Leo's katana? How sweet. I chuckle then duck as a fist flies over my head, smashing into the wall next to me. While ducking I attack my opponents torso and he grunts and crumbles.

I don't like being pinned against a wall and I'm determined to work my way off of it. I engage in a series of blocks and punches with the guy in front of me, then using his momentum I throw him into the wall. I see three coming up on my left and I run up the wall and spin off of it kicking two in the face and landing on the third.

"Have you lost your mind?!" I hear Raphael yell at me.

_"Party Rocking in the House Tonight…"_

I quickly smack the head of the guy I landed on, into the ground and slip my hands efficiently over his torso. He grunts and twitches beneath me. That's when I see a foot flying towards my face. I reach up to grab and twist it but again there's a sai hooking around it and flipping the guy backwards.

I glare at Raphael and he shakes his head at me.

_"Everybody just have a good time"_

"Where the hell did they all come from?" I yell scanning how many Dragons are left. Karai and Leo are still going strong. Exodus and Mike and kicking all kinds of ass. Donatello and April are clearing a path in our direction. Looks like we're almost done.

"Zoe, look out!" Donatello yells and Raph launches himself into the air over my head. He spins around and plows into five guys behind me, shell first. The momentum alone sends them flying.

_"And we gon make you lose your mind"_

"Way to use yourself like a bowling ball babe." I laugh.

He rolls to his feet and actually smiles at me.

_That's better._

I'm back on my feet and we're finishing up with the stragglers. Block, duck, weave, block, one kick to the stomach, one to the chest and last one for the face, I step back into my stance and realize Raph is right behind me checking his side while I check mine.

"What no more?" He waves a hand and shakes his head.

The tell tale sirens bellow and I'm snatched up and flying up a fire escape.

_"Put your hands up"_

"Everybody here and is anyone hurt?" Leo scans us over as we all regulate our breathing.

"We're good." Mike and Exodus say at the same time.

"Good here." Donatello looks April over and answers.

"Fine here." Raph and I answer at the same time then look at each other. "Stop it." We say at the same time. "No you stop." We say again. We both roll our eyes and look in opposite directions.

"Wow. That's just… weird." Karai scratches her head.

"Let's go home team." Leo smiles at us.

**24 Hours Later**

**The Swimming Hole**

"So are you sure Splinter is good with keeping both kids again?" I ask Raph as I slip my tank top over my head, revealing my red bikini top.

"He's a Master Martial Artist. I think he can handle two kids." Raph dropped our bags and tent next to the campfire ring.

"He managed to raise the four of you guys and survived. A baby and a toddler should be nothing." April smiled and began stripping off her clothing.

"Shouldn't you girls be setting up camp before you get all naked-ish?" Mike rubbed the back of his head.

"Why Michelangelo, are you saying you don't want us to be all _nakedish_?" Exodus ran her finger down his plastron, then reached down and pulled her sundress over her head, revealing an orange string tie bikini and leaving his mouth hanging open.

I laughed and reached over and closed his mouth. "I think it's safe to say we can get all nakedish and Mikey likes it."

Raph snatches me up and presses his mouth against my ear, "I know I like it."

"Uh Zoe," Karai laughs.

"Uhhhh," I stammer as he kisses my neck. "Yyyyeah?"

"You're purring."

I feel the heat rush to my face and Raphael chuckles. I smack his plastron and pull away from him. He grins at me and I look away.

"Okay team, let's set up camp and then-" Leo starts to give directions but Karai holds up her hand to stop him.

"Hold it Fearless, you're not leading today. This isn't a mission, it's a party. And for your violation, Leonardo, you drink first!" She unzips her bag and pulls out the bottle of bourbon.

"Oh no," Leo groans.

"DRINK FEARLESS!" We all yell together and he takes his shot like the turtle he is.

"Great, now for some music!" Exodus pulls out the Ipod dock and I provide her with my Ipod.

_"Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"_

Donatello and April were setting up their tent. I run over and grab Aprils hand and pull her by Exodus and she grabs her hand then we run by Karai and X grabs her hand.

"TURN IT UP MIKEY!" X yells and he complies.

We each take a shot and pass the bottle along, dancing on our favorite down tree.

_"I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums! Oh what a shame that you came here with someone, so while you're here in my arms, let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!"_

To my surprise Raph removes the bottle from my hand and takes a hard swig off it, then passes it to Donatello who hits it and passes it to Mike who takes two shots and passes it to Leo who takes another shot before passing it to Karai. Then Leo and Raph are dancing and it is adorable. Then Leo slips into Running Man and Karai looks ready to jump him. Mike grabs Exodus and the two of them start dancing together. They move the same way. Donatello and Raph are watching April, Karai and I.

We dance through my entire playlist. On the last few songs we actually set up camp because it's starting to get dark.

"I'm going for a swim!" Karai grabs my hand and pulls me along with her.

"Where are we going?"

"We're jumping off the waterfall!" she yells.

"Oh, okay…."

"I'm in!" Mike grabs Exodus and they follow us.

"Me too!" April grabs Donatello's hand and they follow suit.

Leo and Raph look at each other and drop their fire wood bundles.

Karai and I run all the way up to the edge and without hesitating leap off into the water below.

"Cowabunga!" Exodus yells leaping over the waterfall with Mike right behind her.

"Booyakasha!" He screams landing like a ball into the water.

Donatello and April jump together slipping into the water with minimal splash and swimming alongside us.

Leo leaps next and dives into the water like an Olympian.

It's Raph's turn, I see him scan our placement in the water and aim himself right in between me, Karai, April and Exodus.

"Oh no," I gasp as his cannonball shape splashes us under a tidal wave upon his entry into the water.

He surfaces next to me and grins.

"You are wicked Raphael." I shake my head and smile at him.

At home in the water, the boys took to freaking us girls out by swimming up under us and tickling or grabbing our feet.

We swam until well after sundown, when the water finally started to cool off and the air brought a chill to the skin of us girls.

We climbed out, wrapping ourselves in towels as Leo brought the fire to a roar.

"Marshmallows!" Mike and X said at the same time.

We all shook our heads.

"What? You don't want any?" X asked tearing open the bag and shoving mallows on the sticks Mike held.

"Oh no, we do. Sometimes it's just hard to believe there are two of you." April giggled taking a stick from Exodus.

Mike looked over at me, smiled and brought a marshmallow to me. Then leaning in to my ear he whispered, "Thank you Zoe."

I kissed his cheek, "Love you Brother."

"Love you too Sis."

We all sat around the campfire munching on marshmallows and trying out Michelangelo's fire roasted pizza, which actually turned out well.

"You know last night was fun but this is way better." Exodus looked over at me, held up the bottle and took a swig.

"I want to dance!" Karai said getting to her feet.

"Again?" Leo seemed surprised.

"Yes, with my girls!"

I was leaning against Raphael's arm and sat up as April grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Okay, okay!" I looked over at Exodus, "Come on, don't make me come get you!"

She grinned and jumped to her feet.

"Oooh what's our song for right now?" Karai motions to me to adjust the music.

"23, Mike Will Made It!" Exodus looks at me and nods.

"Bad girls…" Mike shakes his head.

I snatch Raph's sunglasses and he glares at me.

_That's your dirty glare not your mean one. Good try though._

The girls and I have a choreographed dance to this song that we learned at the club last night and Exodus loves it. Three of us dance in a rhythm while one of us does a variation before stepping back and giving the other a turn. I set Raphael's sunglasses on my head to hold back my loose hair. When it's my turn to dance I fling them at him and he catches them in one hand and tilts his head. My hands run over my body and I swing everything slowly in all the right places, low, and back up. I reach for Karai and we dance together rubbing our bodies against each other then turning our backs to each other and lowering down, then back up and glancing at our boys. Leo's mouth his hanging straight open. Raph is going to drag me off into the woods, I can tell from that slack mouth and those lusty green eyes.

We four girls line back up and move through the rest of our choreography. Then as the song ends I find myself flipped over Raphael's shell and being carried away.

"HEY! We have rules!" Karai protests, but Leo snatches her up and walks off in the opposite direction. "What the-" She tries to look around but I hear Leo, very uncharacteristically for him…

"Be still Karai or you're going to be very embarrassed."

"Okay Leo," she yelps, "calm down."

It's getting darker and although he's sticking closer to the water he's walked until I can't hear the party anymore.

"Uh Raph, where are we going and why are you carrying me?"

He smacks my butt, "Be quiet."

"Are you serious right now?"

He smacks my butt again, "I said be quiet."

I start squirming now because the second swat stung, "Hey!"

He starts working his way down the slope leading to the water and sets me down at the flat, beach like part below.

"Okay so what-"

Before I can finish speaking his mouth is on mine, his fingers in my hair. He unclasps the hook on my bikini top with his other hand and it slides off my shoulders. I'm falling to the sand below but he cushions my landing and I feel him slip off my bottoms. As they reach my foot he tosses them away and kisses my ankle. Then he alternates kisses with nibbling all the way up my shin and into my thigh. From there he moves his mouth over the most sensitive parts of my body with skill. I squirm as his fingers join in my blissful torment. He kisses his way up my body, nibbling my hip and working his way to my breasts at the same time slipping into my body. "Oh, mmmm," I whimper and moan under his slow thrusts and buck against the building sensation of his plastron rubbing my clit.

He chuckles in my ear, nudging my head to the side so he can nibble on my neck. His mouth finds my ear again and his breath alone sends a heat between my legs. "You feel so good," he tells me, sliding out slowly then thrusting into me. I gasp. "Sooo good," he repeats, sliding out and thrusting in. His mouth finds mine and our tongues dance in rhythm with his thrust. He slides his hands up behind my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. Then he tilts his hips and I feel so many jolts of ecstasy I've reached my end upon his next thrust.

While I tremble in aftershocks he continues thrusting and the pressure is exquisite. My breathing matches his rhythm in steady pants. He continues to pull me closer against him, then I find him holding both of my hands in one of his over my head. My eyelids flutter and I moan beneath him, my breathing hitches as his thrusts quicken. "Shhhh, calm down," he whispers, but his voice only makes me pant harder. He chuckles and owns my mouth, "Shhh" he says between kisses. His thrusts grow harder before he presses me against him as close as he can without hurting me and comes.

I lie there strewn across his plastron, tracing my fingers over each scar and groove. He has one arm wrapped around me while the other strokes my back lightly. Little goose-bumps raise over my skin as the air cools more and the warmth of our bodies evaporates.

"Are you cold?" He asks with his lips on top of my head.

"I don't want to be. I don't want to move." I kiss his plastron and press my cheek back against it.

"I don't want you to get sick." He sits up and I groan.

"You're Daddy side is showing." I shake my head as I stand up, walk over and step into the cool water.

"Funny. What're you doin?"

I turn around, looking at him with my bedroom eyes, "I'm rinsing off. I'm covered with sand. Feel like joining me?"

I'm in his arms and we're in deep water before I take my next breath.

"Well okay then, but I can't touch bottom out here." I tread water and he pulls me closer to him.

"You don't have to," He's wrapping my legs around him, my heels resting against his shell and he's slipping inside me and I'm holding onto him, my back arching and pressing my breast into his plastron.

"Mmmm," I moan and he thrusts. I gasp and hold onto him tighter and I feel his smile against my throat.

"How are you even doing this right now?" I manage to speak and he thrusts and I bite his shoulder which only provokes him to do it again but harder. "Oh my Raphael you are amazing."

He laughs and I bite him harder and feel his skin actually give.

He growls and picks up an impressive rhythm in the water. The deeper he reaches, the closer he pulls me to him, the harder I bite and he wraps his head around my neck, his arms around my body. I unlock my jaw from his shoulder and seek his mouth where he meets me with greedy kisses, he licks the copper of his blood from my lips and I taste it when our tongues meet. Why not, our tears intermingle often in our lovemaking too. Our bodies move together in a beautiful harmony of lovers who know each other well. And like he always does he carries me, lulling me, torturing me, living within me, wanting me, needing me, loving… _me._

_**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed Zoë Part II. I am working on Part III._


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